MODERN  MAGIC. 


BY 


M.  SOHELE   DE  VERE. 


Non  fumum  ex  fulgore,  sed  ex  fumo  dare  lucem 
Cogitut,  ut  speciosa  dehinc  miracula  promat. 

HORACE. 


XK\V  YORK: 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS, 

FOURTH    AVENUE    AND   TWENTY-THIRD  STREET. 

1873. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  by 

G.    P.    PUTNAM'S    SONS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


LAXOE,  LITTLE   &  HII.LMAX, 
PUINTKRS,  ELKCTROTYFKR3  AND  STEREOTYPE 
108  TO  114  WOOSTKB  STBKKT,  N.  Y. 


PEEFAOE. 


THE  main  purpose  of  our  existence  on  earth — aside 
from  the  sacred  and  paramount  duty  of  securing  our 
salvation — is  undoubtedly  to  make  ourselves  masters 
of  the  tangible  world  around  us,  as  it  stands  revealed 
to  our  senses,  and  as  it  was  expressly  made  subject  to 
our  will  by  the  Creator.  "We  are,  however,  at  the  same 
time,  not  left  without  information  about  the  existence 
of  certain  laws  and  the  occurrence  of  certain  phenom- 
ena, which  belong  to  a  world  not  accessible  to  us  by 
means  of  our  ordinary  senses,  and  which  yet  affect  seri- 
ously our  intercourse  with  Nature  and  our  personal 
welfare.  This  knowledge  we  obtain  sometimes,  by  spe- 
cial favor,  as  direct  revelation,  and  at  other  times,  for 
reasons  as  yet  unknown,  at  the  expense  of  our  health 
and  much  suffering.  By  whatever  means  it  may  reach 
us,  it  cannot  be  rejected;  to  treat  it  with  ridicule  or  to 


4  PREFACE. 

decline  examining  it,  would  be  as  unwise  as  unprofita- 
ble. The  least  that  we  can  do  is  to  ascertain  the  pre- 
cise nature  of  these  laws,  and,  after  stripping  these 
phenomena  of  all  that  can  be  proved  to  be  merely  inci- 
dental or  delusive;  to  compare  them  with  each  other, 
and  to  arrange  them  carefully  according  to  some  stand- 
ard of  classification.  The  main  interest  in  such  a  task 
lies  in  the  discovery  of  the  grain  of  truth  which  is 
often  found  concealed  in  a  mass  of  rubbish,  and  which, 
when  thus  brought  to  light,  serves  to  enlarge  our 
knowledge  and  to  increase  our  power.  The  difficulty 
lies  in  the  absence  of  all  scientific  investigation,  and  in 
the  innate  tendency  of  man  to  give  way,  wantonly  or 
unconsciously,  to  mental  as  well  as  to  sensual  delu- 
sion. 

The  aim  of  this  little  work  is,  therefore,  limited  to 
the  gathering  of  such  facts  and  phenomena  as  may 
serve  to  throw  light  upon  the  nature  of  the  magic 
powers  with  which  man  is  undoubtedly  endowed.  Its 
end  will  be  attained  if  it  succeeds  in  showing  that  he 
actually  does  possess  powers  which  are  not  subject  to 
the  general  laws  of  nature,  but  more  or  less  independ- 
ent of  space  and  time,  and  which  yet  make  themselves 
known  partly  by  appeals  to  the  ordinary  senses  and 
partly  by  peculiar  phenomena,  the  result  of  their 


PREFACE.  O 

activity.  These  higher  powers,  operating  exclusively 
through  the  spirit  of  man,  are  part  of  his  nature,  which 
has  much  in  common  with  that  of  the  Deity,  since  he 
vus  created  by  God  "in  His  own  image,"  and  the  Lord 
"  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life  and  man 
became  a  living  soul."  This  soul  is  not,  as  materialists 
maintain,  merely  the  sum  of  all  perceptions  obtained 
by  the  collective  activity  of  bodily  organs — a  conclusion 
which  would  finally  make  it  the  product  of  mere 
material  atoms,  subject  to  constant  physical  and 
chemical  changes.  Even  if  it  were  possible — which  we 
deny — to  reduce  our  whole  inner  life,  including  memo- 
ry, imagination,  and  reason,  to  a  system  of  purely 
physical  laws,  and  thus  to  admit  its  destruction  at 
the  moment  of  death,  there  would  still  remain  the 
living  soul,  coming  directly  from  the  Most  High,  and 
destined  to  continue  throughout  eternity.  This  soul  is, 
hence,  independent  of  time.  Nor  is  it  bound  by  space, 
except  so  far  as  it  can  commune  with  the  outer  world 
only  by  means  of  the  body,  with  which  it  is  united  in 
this  life.  The  nature  of  this  union  is  a  mystery  as  yet 
uufathomecl,  but  precisely  because  it  is  such  a  mystery, 
we  have  no  right  to  assume  that  it  is  altogether  indis- 
soluble during  life ;  or,  that  it  ceases  entirely  at  the 
moment  of  death.  There  is,  on  the  contrary,  over- 


G  PREFACE. 

whelming  evidence  that  the  soul  may,  at  times,  act 
independently  of  the  body,  and  the  forces  developed  on 
such  occasions  we  have,  for  the  sake  of  convenience 
rather  than  on  account  of  the  special  fitness  of  the 
term,  preferred  to  call  magic  powers. 

There  is  no  evidence  whatever  before  us  as  to  the 
mutual  relations  of  soul  and  body  after  death.  Here, 
necessarily,  all  must  be  mere  speculation.  Nothing 
more,  therefore,  will  be  claimed  for  the  following 
suggestions.  "When  the  body  becomes  unfit  to  serve 
any  longer  as  an  abode  and  an  instrument  to  the  soul, 
the  tie  which  was  formed  before  or  <it  the  moment  of 
birth  is  gradually  loosened.  The  soul  no  longer 
receives  impressions  from  the  outer  world  such  as  the 
body  heretofore  conveyed  to  it,  and  with  this  cessation 
of  mutual  action  ends,  also,  the  community  of  sensa- 
tion. The  living  soul — in  all  probability — becomes 
conscious  of  its  separation  from  the  dead  body  and 
from  the  world ;  it  continues  to  exist,  but  in  loneliness 
and  self-dependence.  Its  life,  however,  becomes  only 
the  more  active  and  the  more  self-conscious  as  it  is  no 
longer  consumed  by  intercourse  with  the  world,  nor 
disturbed  by  bodily  disorders  and  infirmities.  The  soul 
recalls  with  ease  all  long-forgotten  or  much-dimmed 
sensations.  What  it  feels  most  deeply  at  first  is,  we  may 


PREFACE.  7 

presume,  the  double  grief  at  being  separated  from  the 
body,  with  which  it  has  so  long  been  closely  connected, 
and  at  the  sins  it  has  committed  during  life.  This 
repentance  will  be  naturally  all  the  heartier,  as  it  is  no 
longer  interrupted  by  sensual  impressions.  After  a 
while  this  grief,  like  all  sorrows,  begins  to  moderate, 
and  the  soul  returns  to  a  state  of  peace :  sooner,  of 
course,  in  the  case  of  persons  who  in  their  earthly  life 
already  had  secured  peace  by  the  only  means  revealed  to 
man ;  later,  by  those  who  had  given  themselves  entirely 
up  to  the  world  and  their  passions.  At  the  same  time 
the  living  soul  enters  into  communion  with  other  souls, 
retaining,  however,  its  individuality  in  sex,  character, 
and  temper,  and,  possibly,  proceeds  on  a  course  of 
gradual  purification,  till  it  reaches  the  desired  haven  in 
perfect  reconciliation  with  God.  During  this  inter- 
mediate time  there  is  nothing  known  to  us  which 
would  absolutely  forbid  the  idea  that  these  living  souls 
continue  to  maintain  some  kind  of  intercourse  with 
the  souls  of  men  on  earth,  with  whom  they  share  all 
that  constitutes  their  essential  nature,  save  only  the 
one  fact  of  bondage  to  the  body.  Nor  is  there  any 
reason  why  the  soul  in  man  should  not  be  able,  by  its 
higher  powers,  to  perceive  and  to  consort  with  souls 
detached  from  mortal  bodies,  although  this  intercourse 


PREFACE. 

must  needs  be  limited  and  imperfect  because  of  the 
vast  difference  between  a  free  soul  and  one  bound  to  an 
earthly,  sinful  body.  For  man,  when  he  dies,  leaves 
behind  in  this  world  the  body,  dead  and  powerless,  a 
corpse.  He  continues,  however,  to  live,  a  soul,  with  all 
the  peculiar  powers  which  make  up  our  spiritual 
organism ;  that  is  to  say,  the  true  man,  in  the  higher 
sense  of  the  word,  exists  still,  though  he  dwell  in 
another  world.  This  soul  has  now  no  longer  earthly 
organs  of  sense  to  do  its  bidding,  but  it  still  controls 
nature  which  was  made  subject  to  its  will ;  it  has, 
moreover,  a  new  set  of  powers  which  represent  in  the 
higher  world  its  higher  body,  and  the  character  of  its 
new  active  life  will  be  all  the  more  elevated,  as  these 
organs  are  more  spiritual.  Man  cannot  but  continue  to 
develop,  to  grow,  and  to  ripen,  in  the  next  world  as  he 
did  in  this ;  his  nature  and  his  destiny  are  alike  incom- 
patible with  sudden  transitions  and  with  absolute  rest. 
The  soul  must  become  purer  and  more  useful;  its 
organs  more  subtle  and  more  powerful,  and  it  is  of  this 
life  of  gradual  improvement  and  purification  that  we 
may  occasionally  obtain  glimpses  by  that  communion 
which  no  doubt  still  exists  between  earth-bound  souls 
and  souls  freed  from  such  bondage. 

There  are,  it  is  well  known,  many  theologians  who 


PREFACE. 

sternly  deny  any  such  further  development  of  man's 
spiritual  part,  and  insist  upon  looking  at  this  life  as  the 
only  time  of  probation  accorded  to  him,  at  the  end  of 
which  immediate  and  eternal  judgment  is  rendered. 
Their  views  are  entitled  to  the  utmost  consideration 
and  respect.  But  different  opinions  are  entertained  by 
some  of  their  brethren,  not  less  eminent  in  piety,  pro- 
found learning,  and  critical  acumen,  and  hence  at  least 
equally  deserving  of  being  attentively  listened  to  and 
carefully  regarded.  So  it  is  also  with  the  belief  in  the 
possibility  of  holding  intercourse  with  disembodied 
spirits.  Superficial  observers  are  ready  to  doubt  or  to 
deny,  to  sneer  haughtily,  or  to  scoff  contemptuously. 
But  men  of  great  eminence  have,  from  time  immemo- 
rial, treated  the  question  with  great  attention  and  deep 
interest.  Melanohthon  wrote:  "I  have  myself  seen 
ghosts,  and  know  many  trustworthy  people  who  affirm 
that  they  have  not  only  seen  them,  but  even  carried  on 
conversations  with  them*'  (De  Anima  Recogn.:  Wittemb. 
1595,  p.  317),  and  Luther  said  nearly  the  same ;  Calvin 
and  Knox  also  expressed  similar  convictions.  A  faith 
which  has  lasted  through  all  ages  of  man's  history,  and 
has  such  supporters,  cannot  but  have  some  foundation, 
and  deserves  full  investigation.  Alchemy,  with  its  vis- 
ionary hopes,  contained,  nevertheless,  the  germ  of 

1* 


10  PREFACE. 

modern  chemistry,  and  astrology  taught  already  much 
that  constitutes  the  astronomy  of  our  day.  The  same 
is,  no  doubt,  the  case  with  Modern  Magic,  and  here, 
also,  we  may  safely  expect  to  find  that  "  out  of  darkness 
cometh  light." 


CONTENTS. 


WITCHCRAFT 18 

II. 
BLACK  AND  WHITE  MAGIC 43 

III. 
DREAMS 94 

IV. 
VISIONS 116 

V. 
GHOSTS 155 

VI. 
DIVINATION 270 

VII. 
POSSESSION 340 

VIII. 
MAGNETISM 376 

IX. 

MIRACULOUS  CURES 429 

X. 

MYSTICISM.  .  448 


MODERN  MAGIC. 


WITOHOEAFT. 

"  Witchcraft  is  an  illegitimate  miracle ;  a  miracle  is  legitimate 
witchcraft." — JACOB  BOEHME. 

PERHAPS  in  no  direction  has  the  human  mind  ever 
shown  greater  weakness  than  in  the  opinions  enter- 
tained of  witchcraft.  If  Hecate,  the  oldest  patroness 
of  witches,  wandered  about  at  night  with  a  gruesome 
following,  and  frightened  lovers  at  their  stealthy  meet- 
ing, or  lonely  wanderers  on  open  heaths  and  in  dark 
forests,  her  appearance  was  at  least  in  keeping  with  the 
whole  system  of  Greek  mythology.  Tacitus  does  not 
frighten  us  by  telling  us  that  witches  used  to  meet  at 
salt  springs  (Ann.  xiii.  57),  nor  the  Edda  when  speak- 
ing of  the  "  bearers  of  witches'  kettles,"  against  whom 
even  the  Salic  Law  warns  all  good  Christians.  But 
when  the  Council  of  Ancyra,  in  the  fifth  century,  ful- 
minates its  edicts  against  women  riding  at  night  upon 
weird  animals  in  company  with  Diana  and  Herodias, 
the  strange  combination  of  names  and  the  dread  penal- 
ties threatened,  make  us  almost  think  of  Avitches  as  of 
real  and  most  marvelous  beings.  And  when  wise 


14  MODERN    MAGIC. 

councillors  of  French  Parliaments  and  gray  dignitaries 
of  the  Holy  German  Empire  sit  in  judgment  over  a 
handful  of  poor  old  women,  when  great  English  bishops 
and  zealous  New  England  divines  condemn  little 
children  to  death,  hecause  they  have  made  pacts  with 
the  Devil,  attended  his  sabbaths,  and  bewitched  their 
peaceful  neighbors — then  we  stand  amazed  at  the  delu- 
sions, to  which  the  wisest  and  best  among  us  are 
liable. 

Christianity,  it  is  true,  shed  for  a  time  such  a  bright 
light  over  the  earth,  that  the  works  of  darkness  were 
abhorred  and  the  power  of  the  Evil  One  seemed  to  be 
broken,  according  to  the  sacred  promises  that  the  seed 
of  woman  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  Thus 
Charlemagne,  in  his  fierce  edict  issued  after  the  defeat 
of  the  Saxons,  ordered  that  death  should  be  inflicted 
on  all  who  after  pagan  manner  gave  way  to  devilish 
delusions,  and  believed  that  men  or  women  could  be 
witches,  persecuted  and  killed  them ;  or,  even  went  so 
far  as  to  consume  their  flesh  and  give  it  to  others  for 
like  purposes !  But  almost  at  the  same  time  the  belief 
in  the  Devil,  distinctly  maintained  in  Holy  Writ,  spread 
far  and  wide,  and  as  early  as  the  fourth  century  dis- 
eases were  ascribed  not  to  organic  causes,  but  to  demo- 
niac influences,  and  the  Devil  was  once  more  seen  bodily 
walking  to  and  fro  on  the  earth,  accompanied  by  a  host 
of  smaller  demons.  It  was  but  rarely  that  a  truly 
enlightened  man  dared  to  combat  the  universal  super- 
stition. Thus  Agobard,  archbishop  of  Lyons,  shines 


WITCHCRAFT.  1 5 

like  a  bright  star  on  the  dark  sky  of  the  ninth  century 
by  his  open  denunciation  of  all  belief  in  possession,  in 
the  control  of  the  weather  or  the  decision  of  difficulties 
by  ordeal.     For  like  reasons  we  ought  to  revere  the 
memory  of   John  of  Salisbury,  who  in  the  twelfth 
century   declared  the  stories  of  nightly  assemblies  of 
witches,  with  all  their  attending  circumstances,  to  be 
mere  delusions  of  poor  women  and  simple  men,  who 
fancied  they  saw  bodily  what  existed  only  in  their 
imagination.    The  Church  hesitated,  now  requiring  her 
children  to  believe  in  a  Devil  and  demons,  and  now 
denouncing  all  faith  in  supernatural  beings.     The  thir- 
teenth century,  by  Leibnitz  called  the  darkest  of  all, 
developed  the  worship  of  the  Evil  One  to  its  fullest  per- 
fection ;  the  writings  of  St.  Augustine  were  quoted  as 
confirming  the  fact  that  demons  and  men  could  and 
did  intermarry,  and  the  Djinns  of  the  East  were  men- 
tioned as  spirits  who  "sought  the  daughters  of  men 
for  wives."     The  first  trace  of  a  witches'  dance  is  found 
in  the  records  of  a  fearful  Auto-da-fe  held  in  Toulouse 
in  the  year  1353,  and  about  a  century  later  the  Domini- 
can monk,  Jaquier,  published  the  first  complete  work 
on  witches  and  witchcraft.     He  represented  them  as 
organised — after  the  prevailing  fashion  of  the  day — in  a 
regular  guild,  with  apprentices,  companions,  and  mas- 
ters, who  practised  a  special  art  for  a  definite  purpose. 
It  is  certainly  most  remarkable  that  the  same  opinion, 
in  all  its  details,  has  been  entertained  in  this  century 
even,  and  by  one  of  the  most  famous  German  philoso- 


16  MODERN    MAGIC. 

pliers,  Eschenmayer.  While  the  zeal  and  madness  of 
devil-worshippers  were  growing  on  one  side,  persecu- 
tion became  more  violent  and  cruel  on  the  other  side, 
till  the  trials  of  witches  assumed  gigantic  proportions 
and  the  proceedings  were  carried  on  according  to  a  reg- 
ular method.  These  trials  originated,  invariably,  with 
theologians,  and  although  the  system  was  not  begun  by 
the  Papal  government  it  obtained  soon  the  Pope's  legal 
sanction  by  the  famous  bull  of  Innocent  VIII.,  Sumnris 
desiderantes,  dated  December  4,  1484,  and  decreeing 
the  relentless  persecution  of  all  heretical  witches.  The 
far-famed  Malleus  maleficatum  (Cologne,  1489),  written 
by  the  two  celebrated  judges  of  witches,  Spreuger  and 
Gremper,  and  full  of  the  most  extraordinary  views  and 
statements,  reduced  the  whole  to  a  regular  method,  and 
obtained  a  vast  influence  over  the  minds  of  that  age. 
The  rules  and  forms  it  prescribed  were  not  only  ob- 
served in  almost  all  parts  of  Christendom,  but  actually 
retained  their  force  and  legality  till  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Nor  were  these  views  and  prac- 
tices confined  to  Catholic  countries;  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  after  the  Reformation,  a  great  German  jurist 
and  a  Protestant,  Carpzon,  published  his  Praxis  Critn- 
inalis,  in  which  precisely  the  same  opinions  were 
taught  and  the  same  measures  were  prescribed.  The 
Puritans,  it  is  well-known,  pursued  a  similar  plan,  and 
the  Xew  World  has  not  been  more  fortunate  in  avoid- 
ing these  errors  than  the  Old  World.  A  curious 
feature  in  the  above-mentioned  \jforks  is  the  fact  that 


WITCHCRAFT.  1 7 

both  abound  in  expressions  of  hatred  against  the  female 
sex,  and  still  more  curious,  though  disgraceful  in  the 
extreme,  that  the  special  animosity  shown  by  judges  of 
witchcraft  against  women  is  solely  based  upon  the 
weight  which  they  attached  to  the  purport  of  the 
Mosaic  inhibition:  "Thou  shalt  not  suffer  a  witch  to 
live  "  (Exodus  xii.  18). 

These  are  dark  pages  in  the  history  of  Christendom, 
blackened  by  the  smoke  of  funeral  piles  and  stained 
with  the  blood  of  countless  victims  of  cruel  supersti- 
tion. For  here  the  peculiarity  was  that  in  the  majority 
of  cases  not  the  humble  sufferers  whose  lives  were  sac- 
rificed, but  the  haughty  judges  were  the  true  criminals. 
The  madness  seems  to  have  been  contagious,  for  Pro- 
testant authorities  were  as  bloodthirsty  as  Catholics ; 
the  Inquisition  waged  for  generations  unceasing  war 
against  this  new  class  of  heretics  among  the  nations  of 
the  Eomanic  race.  Germany  saw  great  numbers  sacri- 
ficed in  a  short  space  of  time,  and  in  sober  England, 
even,  three  thousand  lost  their  lives  during  the  Long 
Parliament  alone,  while,  according  to  Barrington,  the 
whole  number  who  perished  amounted  to  not  less  than 
thirty  thousand !  If  only  few  were  sacrificed  in  New 
England,  the  exception  was  due  more  to  the  sparse 
population  than  to  moderation ;  in  South  America,  on 
the  contrary,  the  persecution  was  carried  on  with  re- 
lentless cruelty.  And  all  this  happened  while  fierce 
war  was  raging  almost  everywhere,  so  that,  while  the 
sword  destroyed  the  men,  the  fire  consumed  the  women ! 


18  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Occasionally  most  startling  contrasts  would  be  exhib- 
ited by  different  governments.  In  the  North,  James  I., 
claiming  to  be  as  wise  as  Solomon,  and  more  learned 
than  any  man  in  Christendom,  imagined  that  he  was 
persecuted  by  the  Evil  One  on  account  of  his  great 
religious  zeal,  and  saw  in  every  Catholic  an  instrument 
of  his  adversary.  His  wild  fancy  was  cunningly  en- 
couraged by  those  who  profited  by  his  tyranny,  and 
Catholics  were  represented  as  being,  one  and  all,  given 
up  to  the  Devil,  the  mass  and  witchcraft,  the  three  un- 
holy allies  opposed  to  the  Trinity !  In  the  South,  the 
Eepublic  of  Venice,  with  all  its  petty  tyranny  and  pro- 
verbial political  cruelty,  stood  almost  alone  in  all 
Christendom  as  opposed  to  persecutions  of  wizards  and 
witches,  and  fought  the  battle  manfully  on  the  side  of 
enlightenment  and  Christian  charity.  The  horrors  of 
witch-trials  soon  reached  a  height  which  makes  us 
blush  for  humanity.  The  accused  ware  tortured  till 
they  confessed  their  guilt,  so  that  they  might  lose  not 
only  life  upon  earth,  but  also  hope  for  eternity.  If, 
under  torture,  they  declared  themselves  innocent,  but 
ready  to  confess  their  guilt  and  to  die,  they  were  told 
that  in  such  a  case  they  would  die  with  a  falsehood  on 
their  lips,  and  thus  forfeit  salvation.  Some  of  the  suf- 
ferers were  found  to  have  a  stigma  on  their  bodies,  a 
place  where  the  nerves  had  been  paralysed,  and  no  pain 
was  consequently  felt — this  was  a  sure  sign  of  their 
being  witches,  and  they  were  forthwith  burnt ;  if  they 
had  no  such  stigma,  the  judge  decided  that  the  Devil 


WITCHCRAFT.  1 9 

marked  only  his  doubtful  adherents,  and  left  his  trusty 
followers  unmarked  !  The  terror  became  so  great  that 
in  the  seventeenth  century  repentant  ''witches  abound- 
ed, because  it  had  become  customary  "  merely  to  hang  or 
to  decapitate  those  who  confessed,  while  all  others  were 
burned  alive.  Hundreds  suffering  of  painful  diseases  or 
succumbing  to  unbearable  privations,  forthwith  fancied 
themselves  bewitched,  or  actually  sought  relief  from 
the  ills  of  this  life  by  voluntarily  appearing  before  the 
numerous  tribunals  for  the  trial  of  witchcraft.  The 
minds  of  men  were  so  thoroughly  blinded,  that  even 
when  husbands  testified  the  impossibility  of  their  wives 
having  attended  the  witches'  sabbath,  because  they  had 
been  lying  all  night  by  their  side  in  bed,  they  were  told, 
and  quite  ready  to  believe,  that  a  phantom  had  taken 
the  place  of  their  absent  wives !  In  one  of  the  most  fa- 
mous trials  five  women  confessed,  after  suffering  un- 
speakable torture,  that  they  had  disinterred  an  infant, 
the  child  of  one  of  their  number,  and  supped  upon  it 
with  the  Devil ;  the  father  of  the  child  persevered  till 
the  grave  was  opened,  and  behold,  the  child's  body  was 
there  unharmed!  But  the  judges  declared  it  to  be  a 
phantom  sent  by  the  Evil  One,  since  the  confession  of 
the  criminals  was  worth  more  than  mere  ocular  proof, 
and  the  women  were  burnt  accordingly.  (Horst.  De- 
monomagie,  i.  p.  349.)  The  most  signal  proof  of  the 
absurdity  of  all  such  charges  was  obtained  in  our  own 
country.  Here  the  number-of  those  who  complained 
of  being  plagued  and  injured  by  demoniac  agencies 


20  MODERN   MAGIC. 

became  larger  in  precise  proportion  as  trials  increased 
and  condemnations  succeeded.  But  when  nineteen  of 
the  accused  had  been  executed,  and  the  judges  becom- 
ing appalled  at  the  daily  growing  number  of  com- 
plaints, set  some  of  the  prisoners  free,  and  declined  to 
arrest  others,  there  was  suddenly  an  end  of  these  griev- 
ances, no  more  accounts  of  enchantment  and  witch- 
craft were  heard,  and  soon  the  evil  disappeared  en- 
tirely. 

It  was  a  similar  return  to  reason  which  at  last  led  in 
Europe  also  to  a  reaction.  The  Doge  of  Venice  and  the 
Great  Council  appealed  to  the  pope,  Leo  X.,  to  put  a 
curb  upon  the  intemperate  zeal  of  his  ministers,  and  he 
saw  himself  forced  to  check  the  merciless  persecution. 
Occasionally  voices  had  been  raised,  already  before  that 
public  appeal,  condemning  such  wholesale  slaughter ; 
among  these  were  men  like  Bacon  of  Verulam,  Regi- 
nald Scotus,  and,  marvel  of  marvels,  two  famous 
Jesuits,  Tanner  and  Spee.  And  yet  even  these  merci- 
ful and  enlightened  men  never,  for  a  moment,  doubted 
the  genuineness  of  witchcraft  and  its  fatal  effects. 
Father  Spee,  a  most  learned  man,  writing  against  the 
ceaseless  persecutions  of  pretended  witches,  neverthe- 
less declared,  in  1631,  in  his  renowned  Cautio  crimin- 
alis,  by  far  the  best  work  written  on  that  side  of  the 
question,  that  "  there  are  in  the  world  some  few  wizards 
and  enchanters,  which  could  not  be  denied  by  any 
body  without  frivolity  and  great  ignorance,"  and  even 
Bayle,  while  condemning  the  cruelty  of  witches'  trials, 


WITCHCRAFT.  21 

seriously  proposes  to  punish  witches  for  their  "  ill-will." 
Vaude,  the  well-known  librarian  of  Cardinal  Mazarin, 
wrote,  an  able  work  as  an  apology  of  all  the  great  men 
who  had  been  suspected  of  witchcraft,  including  even 
Clemens  V.,  Sylvester  II.,  and  other  popes,  and  a  re- 
nowned Capuchin  monk,  d'Autun,  pursued  the  same 
subject  with  infinite  subtlety  of  thought  and  great  hap- 
piness of  diction  in  his  L'incrtduUte  savante  et  la  cridu- 
litc.  ignorante.  A  witch  was,  however,  still  condemned 
to  be  burned  in  1698,  in  Germany;  fortunately  the 
judge,  a  distinguished  jurist  of  the  University  of  Halle, 
was  remonstrated  with  by  an  esteemed  colleague,  and 
thus  induced  to  examine  himself  as  well  as  the  whole 
grievous  subject  with  unsparing  candor.  This  led  him 
to  see  clearly  the  error  involved  in  trials  of  witchcraft, 
and  he  wrote,  in  1701,  a  most  valuable  and  influential 
work  against  the  Crime  of  Magic.  He  succeeded,  espe- 
cially, in  destroying  the  enormous  prestige  heretofore 
enjoyed  by  Del  Eio's  great  work  Disquisitiones  magicce, 
the  favorite  hand-book  of  judges  of  all  lands,  which 
was  even  adopted,  though  from  the  pen  of  a  Jesuit,  by 
the  Protestants  of  Germany.  In  no  case,  however, 
were  the  personal  existence  of  the  Devil,  and  his  activity 
upon  earth,  denied  by  these  writers ;  on  the  contrary, 
it  is  well  known  that  Luther,  Melanchthou,  and  even 
Calvin,  continued  always  to  speak  of  Satan  as  having  a 
corporeal  existence  and  as  being  perceptible  to  human 
senses.  The  negation  contended  for  applied  only  to  his 
direct  agency  in  the  physical  world;  his  moral  in  flu- 


22  'MODERN    MAGIC. 

ence  was  ever  readily  admitted.  Sporadic  cases  of 
witchcraft,  and  their  trial  by  high  courts  of  justice, 
have  continued  to  occur  down  to  our  day.  Maria 
Theresa  was  the  first  peremptorily  to  forbid  any  further 
persecutions  on  account  of  Vencficium,  as  it  had  become 
the  fashion  to  call  the  acts  of  magic  by  which  men  or 
beasts  were  said  to  be  injured.  There  are,  however, 
writers  who  maintain,  in  this  century,  and  in  our  gen- 
eration, even,  the  direct  agency  of  the  Devil  in  daily 
life,  and  see  in  demoniac  sufferings  the  punishment  of 
the  wicked  in  this  life  already. 

The  question  of  how  much  truth  there  may  have 
been  in  this  belief  In  witchcraft,  held  by  so  many  na- 
tions, and  persevered  in  during  so  many  centuries,  has 
never  yet  been  fully  answered.  It  is  hardly  to  be  pre- 
sumed that  during  this  long  period  all  men,  even  the 
wisest  and  subtlest,  should  have  been  completely 
blinded  or  utterly  demented.  .  Many  historians  as  well 
as  philosophers  have  looked  upon  witchcraft  as  a  mere 
creation  of  the  Inquisition.  Eome,  they  argue,  was  in 
great  danger,  she  had  no  new  dogma  to  proclaim  which 
would  give  food  to  inquiring  minds,  and  increase  the 
prestige  of  her  power;  she  was  growing  unpopular  in 
many  countries  heretofore  considered  most  faithful  and 
submissive,  and  she  was  engaged  in  various  dangerous 
conflicts  with  the  secular  powers.  In  this  embarrass- 
ment her  Inquisitors  looked  around  for  some  means  of 
escape,  and  thought  a  remedy  might  be  found  in  this 
new  combination  of  the  two  traditional  crimes  of 


WITCHCRAFT.  23 

heresy  and  enchantment.  Witchcraft,  as  a  crime, 
because  of  the  deeds  of  violence  with  which  it  was 
almost  invariably  associated,  belonged  before  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  secular  judge  ;  as  a  sin  it  was  to  be  pun- 
ished by  the  bishop,  but  as  heresy  it  fell,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  day,  to  the  share  of  neither  judge  nor 
bishop,  but  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition. 

The  extreme  uniformity  of  witchcraft  from  the 
Tagus  to  the  Vistula,  and  in  New  England  as  in  Old 
England,  is  adduced  as  an  additional  evidence  of  its 
having  been  "  manufactured "  by  the  Inquisition. 
Nothing  is  gained,  however,  by  looking  upon  it  as 
a  mere  invention ;  nor  would  such  an  explanation 
apply  to  the  wizards  and  witches  who  are  repeatedly 
mentioned  and  condemned  in  Holy  Writ.  Witchcraft 
was  neither  purely  artificial,  a  mere  delusion,  nor  can 
it  .be  accounted  for  upon  a  purely  natural  basis. 
The  essential  part  in  it  is  the  magic  force,  which 
does  not  belong  to  the  natural  but  to  the  spiritual 
part  of  man.  Hence  it  is  not  so  very  surprising,  as 
many  authors  have  thought  it,  that  thousands  of 
poor  women  should  have  done  their  best  to  obtain 
visions  which  only  led  to  imprisonment,  torture,  and 
death  by  fire,  while  they  procured  for  them  appa- 
rently neither  comfort  nor  wealth,  but  only  pain, 
horror,  and  disgrace.  For  there  was  mixed  up  with 
all  this  a  sensation  of  pleasure,  vague  and  wild, 
though  it  was  in  conformity  with  the  rude  and 
coarse  habits  of  the  age.  It  is  the  same  with  the 


24  MODERN   MAGIC. 

opium  eater  and  hasheesh  smoker,  only  in  a  more 
moderate  manner ;  the  delight  these  pernicious  drugs 
afford  is  not  seen,  but  the  disease,  the  suffering,  and 
the  wretched  death  they  produce,  are  visible  enough. 
The  stories  of  witches'  sabbaths  taking  place  on 
certain  days  of  the  year,  arose  no  doubt  from  the 
fact  that  the  prevailing  superstition  of  the  times 
regarded  some  seasons  as  peculiarly  favorable  for  the 
ceremony  of  anointing  one's  self  with  narcotic  salves, 
and  this  led  to  a  kind  of  spiritual  community  on 
such  nights,  which  to  the  poor  deluded  people  ap- 
peared as  a  real  meeting  at  appointed  places.  In  like 
manner  there  was  nothing  absolutely  absurd  or  im- 
possible in  the  idea  of  a  compact  with  the  Devil. 
Satan  presented  himself  to  the  minds  of  men  in  those 
ages  as  the  bodily  incarnation  of  all  that  is  evil  and 
sinful,  and  hence  when  they  fancied  they  made  a 
league  with  him,  they  only  aroused  the  evil  principle 
within  themselves  to  its  fullest  energy  and  activity. 
It  was  in  fact  the  selfish,  covetous  nature  of  man, 
ever  in  arms  against  moral  laws  and  the  command- 
ments of  God,  which  in  these  cases  became  distinctly 
visible  and  presented  itself  in  the  form  of  a  vision. 
This  evil  principle,  now  relieved  from  all  constraint 
and  able  to  develop  its  power  against  a  feebly  resist- 
ing soul,  would  naturally  destroy  the  poor  deluded 
victim,  in  body  and  in  spirit.  Hence  the  trials  of 
witchcraft  had  at  least  some  justification,  however 
unwise  their  form  and  however  atrocious  their  abuses. 


WITCHCRAFT.  25 

The  majority  of  the  crimes  with  which  the  so-called 
witches  were  charged,  were  no  doubt  imaginary ;  but 
many  of  the  accused  also  had  taken  real  delight  in 
their  evil  practices  and  in  the  grievous  injury  they 
had  done  to  those  they  hated  or  envied.  Nor  must 
it  be  forgotten  that  the  age  in  which  these  trials 
mainly  occurred  was  emphatically  an  age  of  super- 
stition; from  the  prince  on  his  throne  to  the  clown 
in  his  hut,  everybody  learnt  and  practiced  some  kind 
of  magic ;  the  ablest  statesmen  and  the  subtlest  phi- 
losophers, the  wisest  divines  and  the  most  learned 
physicians,  all  were  more  or  less  adepts  of  the  Black 
Art,  and  many  among  them  became  eminently  dan- 
gerous to  their  fellow-beings.  Others,  ceaselessly 
meditating  and  brooding  over  charms  and  demoniac 
influences'  finally  came  to  believe  in  their  own  pow- 
ers of  enchantment,  and  confessed  their  guilt,  although 
they  had  sinned  only  by  volition,  without  ever  being 
able  really  to  call  forth  and  command  magic  powers. 
Still  others  labored  under  a  regular  panic  and  saw 
witchcraft  in  the  simplest  events  as  well  as  in  all 
more  unusual  phenomena  in  nature.  A  violent  temp- 
est, a  sudden  hailstorm,  or  an  unusual  rise  in  rivers, 
all  were  at  once  attributed  to  magic  influences,  and 
the  authorities  urged  and  importuned  to  prevent  a 
recurrence  with  all  its  disastrous  consequences  by 
punishing  the  guilty  authors.  Has  not  the  same 
insane  fury  been  frequently  shown  in  contagious  dis- 
eases, when  the  common  people  believed  their  foun- 

2 


26  MODERN   MAGIC. 

tains  poisoned  and  their  daily  bread  infected  by  Jews 
or  other  suspected  classes,  and  promptly  took  justice 
into  their  own  hands  ?  It  ought  also  to  be  borne 
in  mind,  as  an  apology  for  the  horrible  crimes  com- 
mitted by  judges  and  priests  in  condemning  witches, 
that  in  their  eyes  the  crime  was  too  enormous  and 
the  danger  too  pressing  and  universal  to  admit  of 
delay  in  investigation,  or  mercy  in  judgment.  The 
severe  laws  of  those  semi-barbarous  times  were  imme- 
diately applied  and  all  means  considered  fair  in  elic- 
iting the  truth.  Torture  was  by  no  means  limited 
to  trials  of  witches,  for  some  of  the  greatest  states- 
men and  the  most  exalted  divines  had  alike  to  endure 
its  terrors.  Moreover  no  age  has  been  entirely  free 
from  similar  delusions,  although  the  form  under  which 
they  appear  and  the  power  by  which  they  may  be 
supported,  differ  naturally  according  to  the  spirit  of 
the  times.  Science  alone  cannot  protect  us  against 
fanaticism,  if  the  heart  is  once  led  astray,  and  fearful 
crimes  have  been  committed  not  only  in  the  name 
.of  Liberty  but  even  under  the  sanction  of  the  Cross. 
Basil  the  Great  already  restored  a  slave  ad  integrum, 
who  said  he  had  made  a  pact  with  the  Devil,  but 
the  first  authentic  account  of  such  a  transaction 
occurs  in  connection  with  an  Imperial  officer,  The- 
ophilus  of  Adana,  in  the  days  of  Justinian.  His 
bishop  had  undeservedly  Immiliated  him  and  thus 
aroused  in  the  heart  of  the  naturally  meek  man  in- 
tense wrath  and  a  boundless  desire  of  revenge. 


WITCHCRAFT.  27 

While  he  was  in  this  state  of  uncontrollable  excite- 
ment, a  Jew  appeared  and  offered  to  procure  for  him 
all  he  wanted,  if  he  would  pledge  his  soul  to  Satan. 
The  unhappy  man  consented,  and  was  at  once  led 
to  the  circus  where  he  saw  a  great  number  of  torch- 
bearers  in  white  robes,  the  costume  of  servants  of 
the  church,  and  Satan  seated  in  the  midst  of  the  as- 
sembly. He  obeyed  the  order  to  renounce  Christ  and 
certified  his  apostacy  in  a  written  document.  The 
next  day  already  the  bishop  repented  of  his  injustice 
and  restored  Theophilus  in  his  office,  whereupon  the 
Jew  pointed  out  to  him  how  promptly  his  master 
had  come  to  his  assistance.  Still,  repentance  comes 
to  Theophilus  also,  and  in  a  new  revelation  the  Virgin 
appears  to  the  despairing  man  after  incessant  prayer 
of  forty  days  and  nights — a  fit  preparation  for  such 
a  vision.  She  directs  him  to  perform  certain  aton- 
ing ceremonies  and  promises  him  restoration  to  his 
Christian  privileges,  which  he  finally  obtains  by  find- 
ing the  certificate  of  his  apostasy  lying  on  his  breast, 
and  then  dies  in  a  state  of  happy  relief.  After  that 
similar  cases  of  a  league  being  made  with  Satan  occur 
quite  frequently  in  the,  history  of  saints  and  eminent 
men,  till  the  belief  in  its  efficacy  gradually  died  put 
and  recent  efforts  like  those  recorded  by  Goerres 
(III.  p.  620)  have  proved  utterly  fruitless. 

Among  the  magic  phenomena  connected  with  witch- 
craft, none  is  more  curious  than  the  so-called  witches' 
sabbath,  the  formal  meeting  of  all  who  are  in  league 


28  MODERN   MAGIC. 

with  Satan,  for  the  purpose  of  swearing  allegiance  to 
him,  to  enjoy  unholy  delights,  and  to  introduce  neo- 
phytes. That  no  such  meeting  ever  really  took  place, 
need  hardly  be  stated.  The  so-called  sabbaths  were 
somnambulistic  visions,  appearing  to  poor  deluded 
creatures  while  in  a  state  of  trance,  which  they  had 
produced  by  narcotic  ointments,  vile  decoctions,  or 
even  mere  mental  effort.  For  the  most  skillful  among 
the  witches  could  cause  themselves  to  fall  into  the 
Witches'  Sleep,  as  they  called  this  trance,  whenever 
they  chose  ;  others  had  to  submit  to  tedious  and  often 
abominable  ceremonies.  The  knowledge  of  simples, 
which  was  then  very  general,  was  of  great  service  to 
cunning  impostors ;  thus  it  was  well  known  that  cer- 
tain herbs,  like  aconite,  produces  in  sleep  the  sensation 
of  flying,  and  they  were,  of  course,  diligently  employed. 
Hyosciamus  and  taxus,  hypericum  and  asafoetida  were 
great  favorites,  and  physicians  made  experiments 
with  these  salves  to  try  their  effect  upon  the  system. 
Laguna,  for  instance,  physician  to  Pope  Julius  III., 
once  applied  an  ointment  which  he  had  obtained  from 
a  wizard,  to  a  woman,  who  thereupon  fell  into  a  sleep 
of  thirty-six  hours'  duration,  and  upon  being  aroused, 
bitterly  complained  of  his  cruelty  in  tearing  her  from 
the  embraces  of  her  husband.  The  Marquis  d' Agent 
tells  us  in  his  Lettres  Juifs.  (i.  1. 20),  that  the  celebrated 
Gassendi  discovered  a  drug  which  a  shepherd  used  to 
take  whenever  he  wished  to  go  to  a  witches'  assembly. 
He  won  the  man's  confidence,  and,  pretending  to  join 


WITCHCRAFT.  29 

him  in  his  journey,  persuaded  him  to  swallow  the 
medicine  in  his  presence.  After  a  few  minutes,  the 
shepherd  began  to  stagger  like  an  intoxicated  person, 
and  then  fell  into  profound  sleep,  during  which  he 
talked  wildly.  When  he  roused  himself  again  many 
hours  afterwards,  he  congratulated  the  physician  on 
the  good  reception  he  had  met  at  Satan's  court,  and 
recalled  with  delight  the  pleasant  things  they  had 
jointly  seen  and  enjoyed!  The  symptoms  of  the 
witches'  sleep  differ,  however;  while  the  latter  is,  in 
some  cases,  deep  and  unbroken,  in  other  cases  the 
sleepers  become  rigid  and  icy  cold,  or  they  are  subject 
to  violent  spasms  and  utter  unnatural  sounds  in 
abundance.  The  sleep  differs,  moreover,  from  that  of 
possessed  people  in  the  consciousness  of  bodily  pain 
which  bewitched  people  retain,  while  the  possessed 
become  insensible.  Invariably  the  impression  is  pro- 
duced that  they  meet  kindred  spirits  at  some  great 
assembly,  but  the  manner  of  reaching  it  differs  greatly. 
Some  go  on  foot;  but  as  Abaris  already  rode  on  a  spear 
given  to  him  by  Apollo  (lamblichus  De  Vita,  Pyth.  c. 
18),  others  ride  on  goats.  In  Germany  a  broomstick, 
a  club,  or  a  distaff,  became  suitable  vehicles,  provided 
they  had  been  properly  anointed.  In  Scotland  and 
Sweden  the  chimney  is  the  favorite  road,  in  other 
countries  no  such  preference  is  shown  over  doors  and 
windows.  The  expedition,  however  joyous  it  may  be, 
is  always  very  fatiguing,  and  when  the  revellers  awake 
they  feel  like  people  who  have  been  dissipated.  The 


30  MODERN   MAGIC. 

meetings  differ  in  locality  according  to  size :  whole 
provinces  assemble  on  high,  isolated  mountains,  among 
which  the  Brocken,  in  the  Hartz  Mountains,  is  by  far 
the  most  renowned;  smaller  companies  meet  near 
gloomy  churches  Grander  dark  trees  with  wide-spread- 
ing branches. 

In  the  north  of  Europe  the  favorite  resort  is  the  Blue 
Mountain,  popularly  known  as  Blokulla,  in  Sweden, 
and  as  Blakalla  in  Norway,  an  isolated  rock  in  the  sea 
between  Smoland  and  Oland,  which  seems  to  have  had 
some  association  in  the  minds  of  the  people  with  the 
ancient  sea-goddess  Blakylle.  In  Italy  the  witches 
loved  to  assemble  under  the  famous  walnut  tree  near 
Benevent,  which  was  already  to  the  Longobards  an  ob- 
ject of  superstitious  veneration,  since  here,  in  ancient 
times,  the  old  divinities  were  worshipped,  and  after- 
wards the  strighe  were  fond  of  meeting.  In  France 
they  had  a  favorite  resort  on  the  Puy  de  Dome,  near 
Clermont,  and  in  Spain  on  the  sands  near  Seville, 
where  the  JiecJtizeras  held  their  sabbaths.  The  Hekla, 
of  Iceland,  also  passes  with  the  Scandinavians  for  a 
great  meeting-place  of  witches,  although,  strangely 
enough,  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  have  no  such  tra- 
dition. It  is,  however,  clear  that  in  all  countries  where 
witchcraft  prospered,  the  favorite  places  of  meeting 
were  always  the  same  as  those  to  which,  in  ancient 
times,  the  heathens  had  made  pilgrimages  in  large 
numbers,  in  order  to  perform  their  sacrifices,  and  to 
enjoy  their  merry-makings. 


WITCHCRAFT.  31 

In  precisely  the  same  manner  the  favorite  seasons  for 
these  ghastly  meetings  correspond  almost  invariably 
with  the  times  of  high  festivals  held  in  heathen  days, 
and  hence,  they  were  generally  adopted  by  the  early 
Christians,  with  the  feast  and  saints'  days  of  Christen- 
dom. Thus  the  old  Germans  observed,  when  they 
were  still  pagans,  the  first  of  May  for  two  reasons :  as  a 
day  of  solemn  judgment,  and  as  a  season  for  rejoicing, 
during  which  prince  and  peasant  joined  in  celebrating 
the  return  of  summer  with  merry  songs  and  gay  dances 
around  the  May-pole.  The  witches  were  nothing  loth 
to  adopt  the  day  for  their  own  festivities  also,  and 
added  it  to  the  holidays  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  and  St. 
Bartholomew,  on  which,  in  like  manner,  anciently  the 
holding  of  public  courts  had  brought  together  large 
assemblies.  The  meetings,  however,  must  always  fall 
upon  a  Thursday,  from  a  determined,  though  yet  unex- 
plained association  of  witchcraft  with  the  old  German 
god  of  thunder,  Donar,  who  was  worshipped  on  the 
Blocksberg,  and  to  whom  a  goat  was  sacrificed — whence 
also  the  peculiar  fondness  of  witches  for  that  animal. 
The  hours  of  meeting  are  invariably  from  eleven  o'clock 
at  night  to  one  or  two  in  the  morning. 

The  assembly  consists,  according  to  circumstances, 
of  a  few  hundred  or  of  several  thousands,  but  the 
female  sex  always  largely  prevailes.  For  this  fact 
the  famous  text-book  of  judges  of  witchcraft,  the 
Malleus,  assigned  not  less  than  four  weighty  reasons. 
"Women,  it  said,  are  more  apt  to  be  addicted  to  the  fear- 


32  MODERN   MAGIC. 

ful  crime  than  men  because,  in  the  first  place,  they  are 
more  credulous;  secondly,  in  their  natural  weakness 
they  are  more  susceptible ;  thirdly,  they  are  more  im- 
prudent and  rash,  and  hence  always  ready  to  consult 
the  Devil,  and  fourthly  and  mainly,  femina  comes  from 
fe,  faith  and  minus,  less,  hence  they  have  less  faith  ! 

The  guests  appear  generally  in  their  natural  form, 
but  at  times  they  are  represented  as  assuming  the  shape 
of  various  animals;  the  Devil's  followers  having  a  decid- 
ed preference  for  goats  and  for  monkeys,  although  the 
latter  is  a  passion  of  more  recent  date.  The  crowd  is 
naturally  in  a  state  of  incessant  flowing  and  ebbing; 
the  constant  coming  and  going,  crowding  and  pressing 
admits  of  not  a  moment's  quiet  and  even  here  it  is 
proven  that  the  wicked  have  neither  rest  nor  peace. 

Among  this  crowd  flocks  are  seen,  consisting  of  toads 
and  watched  over  by  boys  and  girls ;  in  the  centre  sits 
Satan  on  a  stone,  draped  in  weird  majesty,  with  terrible 
but  indistinct  features,  and  uttering  short  commands 
with  an  appalling  voice  of  unnatural  and  unheard  of 
music.  A  queen  in  great  splendor  may  sit  by  his  side, 
promoted  to  the  throne  from  a  place  among  the  guests. 
Countless  demons,  attending  to  all  kinds  of  extraordin- 
ary duties,  surround  their  master;  or,  dash  through 
the  crowd  scattering  indecent  words  and  gestures  in  all 
directions.  English  witches  meet,  also,  innumerable 
kittens  on  the  Sabbath  and  show  the  scars  of  wounds 
inflicted  by  the  malicious  animals.  Every  visitor  must 
pay  his  homage  to  the  lord  of  the  feast,  which  is  done 


WITCHCRAFT.  33 

in  an  unmentionable  manner;  and  yet  they  receive 
nothing  in  return — according  to  their  unanimous  con- 
fessions —  except  unfulfilled  promises  and  delusive 
presents.  Even  the  dishes  on  the  table  are  but  shams ; 
there  is  neither  salt  nor  bread  to  be  found  there.  They 
are  bound,  besides,  to  pledge  themselves  to  the  per- 
formance of  a  certain  number  of  wicked  works,  which 
are  distributed  over  the  week,  so  that  the  first  days  are 
devoted  to  ordinary  sins  and  the  last  to  crimes  of 
special  horror.  Music  of  surpassing  weirdness  is  heard 
on  all  sides,  and  countless  couples  whirl  about  in  rest- 
less, obscene  dances ;  the  couples  joining  back  to  back 
and  trying  in  vain  to  see  each  other's  faces.  Very  often 
young  children  are  brought  up  by  their  mothers  to  be 
presented  to  the  Master ;  when  this  is  done,  they  are 
set  to  attend  the  flocks  of  toads  till  the  ninth  year, 
when  they  are  called  up  by  the  Queen  to  abjure  their 
Christian  faith  and  are  regularly  enrolled  among 
witches. 

The  descriptions  of  minor  details  vary,  of  course 
according  to  the  individual  dispositions  of  the  accused, 
whose  confessions  are  invariably  uniform  as  to  the  facts 
stated  heretofore.  The  coarser  minds  naturally  see 
nothing  but  the  grossest  indecency  and  the  vilest  indul- 
gences, while  to  more  refined  minds  the  apparent  occur- 
rences appear  in  a  light  of  greater  delicacy ;  they  hear 
sweet  music  and  witness  nothing  but  gentle  aifection 
and  brotherly  love.  But  in  all  cases  these  witches' 
sabbaths  become  a  passion  with  the  poor  deluded 


34  MODERN    MAGIC. 

creatures;  they  enjoy  there  a  paradise  of  delight, — 
whether  they  really  indulge  in  sensual  pleasure  or 
surrender  mind  and  will  so  completely  to  the  unhal- 
lowed power  that  they  cease  to  wish  for  anything  else, 
and  are  plunged  in  vague,  unspeakable  pleasure.  And 
yet  not  even  the  simple  satisfaction  of  good  looks  is 
granted  them ;  witches  are  as  ugly  as  angels  are  fair ; 
they  emit  an  evil  odor  and  inspire  others  with  uncon- 
querable repugnance. 

How  exclusively  all  these  descriptions  of  witches' 
sabbaths  have  their  origin  in  the  imagination  of  the 
deluded  women  is  seen  from  the  fact  that  they  vary 
consistently  with  the  prevailing  notions  of  those  by 
whom  they  are  entertained;  with  coarse  peasants,  the 
meetings  are  rude  feasts  full  of  obscene  enjoyments ; 
with  noble  knights,  they  become  the  rovings  of  the 
wild  huntsman,  or  a  hellish  court  under  the  guise  of  a 
Venus'  mountain  ;  with  ascetic  monks  and  nuns,  a  sub- 
terranean convent  filled  with  vile  blasphemies  of  God 
and  the  saints.  This  only  is  common  to  all  such 
visions,  that  they  are  always  conceived  in  a  spirit  of 
bitter  antagonism  to  the  Church :  all  the  doctrines  not 
only  but  also  the  ceremonies  of  the  latter  are  here 
travestied.  The  sabbath  has  its  masses,  but  the  host  is 
desecrated,  its  holy  water  obtained  from  the  lord  of  the 
feast;  its  host  and  its  candles  are  black,  and  the  Ite 
missa  est  of  the  dismissing  priest  is  changed  into :  "  Go 
to  the  Devil !  "  Here,  also,  confession  is  required  ;  but, 
the  penitent  confesses  having  omitted  to  do  evil  and 


WITCHCRAFT.  35 

being  guilty  of  occasional  acts  of  mercy  and  goodness ; 
the  penalty  imposed  is  to  neglect  one  or  the  other  of 
the  twelve  commandments. 

When  witches  were  brought  to  trial,  one  of  the  first 
measures  was  to  search  for  special  marks  which  were 
believed  to  betray  their  true  character.  These  were 
especially  the  so-called  witches'  moles,  spots  of  the  size 
of  a  pea,  on  which  for  some  reason  or  other  the  nerves 
had  lost  their  sensibility,  and  where,  in  consequence,  no 
pain  was  felt.  These  were  supposed  to  have  been 
formed  by  being  punctured,  the  Evil  One  performing 
the  operation  with  a  pin  of  false  gold,  with  his  claws  or 
his  horns.  Other  evidences  were  found  in  the  peculiar 
coloring  of  the  eyes,  which  was  said  to  represent  the 
feet  of  toads ;  in  the  absence  of  tears  when  the  little 
gland  had  been  injured,  and,  above  all,  in  the  specific 
lightness  of  the  body.  In  order  to  ascertain  the  latter 
the  accused  were  bound  hand  and  foot  crosswise,  tied 
loosely  to  a  rope,  and  then,  three  times,  dropped  into 
the  water.  If  they  remained  floating  their  guilt  was 
established  ;  for  either  they  had  been  endowed  by  their 
Master  with  safety  from  drowning,  or  the  water  refused 
to  receive  them  because  they  had  abjured  their  baptism ! 
It  need  not  be  added  that  the  executioners  soon  found 
out  ways  to  let  their  prisoners  float  or  sink  as  they 
chose — for  a  consideration. 

Witches'  trials  began  in  the  earliest  days  of  Chris- 
tianity, for  the  Emperor  Valens  ordered,  as  we 
learn  from  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  all  the  wiz- 


36  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

ards  and  enchanters  to  be  held  to  account  who  had 
endeavored  by  magic  art  to  ascertain  his  successor. 
Several  thousands  were  accused  of  witchcraft,  but  the 
charge  was  then,  as  in  almost  every  later  age,  in  most 
cases  nothing  more  than  a  pretext  for  proceedings 
against  obnoxious  persons.  The  next  monster  pro- 
cess, as  it  began  to  be  called  already  in  those  early 
days,  was  the  persecution  of  witches  in  France  under 
the  Merovingians.  The  child  of  Chilperic's  wife  had 
died  suddenly  and  under  suspicious  circumstances, 
which  led  to  the  imprisonment  of  a  prefect,  Mummo- 
lus,  whom  the  queen  had  long  pursued  with  her 
hatred.  He  was  accused  of  having  caused  her  son's 
death  by  his  charms,  and  was  subjected  to  fearful 
tortures  in  company  with  a  number  of  old  women. 
Still,  he  confessed  nothing  but  that  the  latter  had 
furnished  him  with  certain  drugs  and  ointments 
which  were  to  secure  to  him  the  favor  of  the  king 
and  the  queen.  A  later  trial  of  this  kind,  in  which 
for  a  time  calm  reason  made  a  firm  stand  against 
superstition,  but  finally  succumbed  ingloriously,  is 
known  as  the  Vaudoisie,  and  took  place  in  Arras 
in  1459.  It  was  begun  by  a  Count  d'Estauipes,  but 
was  mainly  conducted  by  a  bishop  and  some  eminent 
divines  of  his  acquaintance,  whose  inordinate  zeal 
and  merciless  cruelty  have  secured  to  the  proceedings 
a  peculiarly  painful  memory  in  the  annals  of  the 
church.  A  large  number  of  perfectly  innocent  men 
and  women  were  tortured  and  disgracefully  executed, 


WITCHCRAFT.  37 

but  fortunately  the  death  of  the  main  persecutor, 
DuBlois,  made  a  sudden  end  to  the  existence  of  witch- 
craft in  that  province.  One  of  the  most  remarkable 
trials  of  this  kind  was  caused  by  a  number  of  little 
children,  and  led  to  most  bloody  proceedings.  It 
seems  that  in  the  year  1G69  several  boys  and  girls  in 
the  parish  of  Mora,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  parts 
of  the  Swedish  province  of  Dalarne,  and  famous 
through  the  memory  of  Gustavus  Vasa  and  Gustavus 
III.,  were  affected  by  a  nervous  fever  which  left  them, 
after  their  partial  recovery,  in  a  state  of  extreme 
irritability  and  sensitiveness.  They  fell  into  fainting 
fits  and  had  convulsions — symptoms  which  the  sim- 
ple but  superstitious  mountaineers  gradually  began 
to  think  inexplicable,  and  hence  to  ascribe  to  magic 
influences.  The  report  spread  that  the  poor  chil- 
dren were  bewitched,  and  soon  all  the  usual  details 
of  satanic  possession  were  current.  The  mountain 
called  Blakulla,  in  bad  repute  from  of  old,  was 
pointed  out  as  the  meeting-place  of  the  witches, 
where  the  annual  sabbath  was  celebrated,  and  these 
children  were  devoted  to  Satan.  Church  and  State 
combined  to  bring  their  great  power  to  bear  upon  the 
poor  little  ones,  an  enormous  number  of  women, 
mostly  the  mothers  of  the  young  people,  were  involved 
in  the  charges,  and  finally  fifty-two  of  the  latter  with 
fifteen  children  were  publicly  executed  as  witches, 
while  fifty  of  the  younger  were  condemned  to  severe 
punishment!  More  than  three  hundred  unfortunate 


38  MODEKX   MAGIC. 

children  under  fourteen  had  made  detailed  confes- 
sions of  the  witches'  sabbath  and  the  ceremonies 
attending  their  initiation  into  its  mysteries.  A  sim- 
ilar fearful  delusion  took  hold  of  German  children  in 
Wurtemberg,  when  towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  a  large  number  of  little  boys  and  girls,  none 
of  whom  were  older  than  ten  years,  began  to  state 
that  they  were  every  night  fetched  away  and  carried 
to  the  witches'  sabbath.  Many  were  all  the  time  fast 
asleep  and  could  easily  be  roused,  but  a  few  among 
them  fell  regularly  into  a  trance,  during  which  their 
little  bodies  became  cold  and  rigid.  A  commission 
of  great  judges  and  experienced  divines  was  sent  to 
the  village  to  investigate  the  matter,  and  found  at 
last  that  there  was  no  imposture  attempted,  but  that 
the  poor  children  firmly  believed  what  they  stated. 
It  became,  however,  evident  that  a  few  among  them 
had  listened  to  old  women's  tales  about  witches,  Avith 
eager  ears,  and,  with  inflamed  imaginations,  retailed 
the  account  to  others,  till  a  deep  and  painful  ner- 
vous excitement  took  hold  of  their  minds  and 
rapidly  spread  through  the  community.  Many  of 
the  children  were,  as  was  natural  at  their  age,  led 
by  vanity  to  say  that  they  also  had  been  at  the  sab- 
bath, while  others  were  afraid  to  deny  what  was  so 
positively  stated  by  their  companions.  Fortunately 
the  commission  consisted,  for  once,  of  sensible  men 
who  took  the  right  view  of  the  matter,  ordered  a 


WITCHCRAFT.  39 

good  whipping  here   and  there,  and  thus   saved  the 
land  from  the  crime  of  another  witches'  trial. 

Our  own  experiences  in  New  England,  at  the  time 
when  Sir  William  Phipps  was  governor  of  the  colonies, 
have  been  forcibly  reported  by  the  great  Cotton 
Mather.  Nearly  every  community  had  its  young 
men  and  women  who  were  addicted  to  the  practices 
of  magic ;  they  loved  to  perform  enchantments,  to 
consult  sieves  and  turning  keys,  and  thus  were  grad- 
ually led  to  attempt  more  serious  and  more  danger- 
ous practices.  In  Salem,  men  and  women  of  high 
standing  and  unimpeached  integrity,  even  pious  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  were  suddenly  plagued  and  tor- 
tured by  unknown  agencies,  and  at  last  a  little  black 
and  yellow  demon  appeared  to  them,  accompanied 
by  a  number  of  companions  with  human  faces. 
These  apparitions  presented  to  them  a  book  which 
they  were  summoned  to  sign  or  at  least  to  touch, 
and  if  they  refused  they  were  fearfully  twisted  and 
turned  about,  pricked  with  pins,  burnt  as  if  with 
hot  irons,  bound  hand  and  foot  with  invisible  fetters, 
and  carried  away  to  great  distances.  Some  were  left 
unable  to  touch  food  or  drink  for  many  days ;  others, 
attempting  to  defend  themselves  against  the  demons, 
snatched  a  distaff  or  tore  a  piece  of  cloth  from  them, 
and  immediately  these  proofs  of  the  real  existence 
of  the  evil  spirits  became  visible  to  the  eyes  of  the 
bystanders.  The  magic  phenomena  attending  the 
disease  were  of  the  most  extraordinary  character. 


40  MODERN   MAGIC. 

Several  meu  stated  that  they  had  received  poison  be- 
cause they  declined  to  worship  Satan,  and  imme- 
diately all  the  usual  sequences  of  such  treatment 
appeared,  from  simple  vomiting  to  most  fearful  suf- 
fering, till  counteracting  remedies  were  employed 
and  began  to  take  eifect.  In  other  cases  the  sufferers 
complained  of  burning  rags  being  stuffed  into  their 
mouths,  and  although  nothing  was  seen,  burnt 
places  and  blisters  appeared,  and  the  odor  and  smoke 
of  smouldering  rags  began  to  fill  the  room.  When 
they  reported  that  they  were  branded  with  hot  irons, 
the.  marks  showed  themselves,  suppuration  took 
place,  and  scars  were  formed  which  never  again  dis- 
appeared during  life— and  all  these  phenomena  were 
watched  by  the  eager  eyes  of  hundreds.  The  author- 
ities, of  course,  took  hold  of  the  matter,  and  many 
persons  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  were  brought  to 
trial.  While  they  were  tortured  they  continued  to 
have  visions  of  demoniac  beings  and  possessed  men 
and  women ;  when  they  were  standing,  blindfold- 
ed, in  court,  felt  the  approach  of  those  \)j  whom 
they  pretended  to  be  bewitched  and  plagued,  and 
urgently  prayed  to  be  delivered  of  their  presence. 
Finally  many  were  executed,  not  a  few  undoubtedly 
against  all  justice,  but  the  better  sense  of  the  author- 
ities soon  saw  the  futility,  if  not  the  wickedness  of 
such  proceedings,  and  an  end  was  made  promptly, 
witchcraft  disappearing  as  soon  as  persecution  relaxed 
and  the  sensation  subsided. 


WITCHCRAFT.  41 

Similar  trials  have  nevertheless  continued  to  be  held 
in  various  parts  of  Europe  during  the  whole  of  the 
last  century,  and  many  innocent  lives  have  been  for- 
feited to  this  apparently  ineradicable  belief  in  witch- 
craft. Even  after  torture  was  abandoned  in  compli- 
ance with  the  wiser  views  of  our  age,  long  imprison- 
ment with  its  attending  sufferings  and  great  anxiety  as 
to  the  issue,  proved  fully  sufficient  to  extort  voluntary 
confessions,  which  were,  of  course,  of  no  value  in  them- 
selves, but  served  the  purpose  of  keeping  alive  the 
popular  superstition.  In  1728  a  specially  fearful  trial 
of  this  kind  took  place  in  Hungary,  during  which 
nearly  all  the  disgraceful  scenes  of  mediaeval  barbarity 
were  reenacted,  and  which  ended  in  a  number  of  cruel 
executions.  The  last  witches'  trial  in  Germany  took 
place  in  1749,  when  the  mother-superior  of  a  convent 
near  TViirzburg,  in  Bavaria,  known  as  Emma  Eenata, 
was  condemned  to  be  burnt,  but  by  the  leniency  of  the 
authorities,  was  allowed  to  die  by  decapitation.  Switz- 
erland was  the  scene  of  the  last  of  these  trials  ever 
held,  for  with  this  act  of  justice,  as  it  was  called  by  the 
good  people  of  Glarus,  the  persecution  ended. 

Even  in  England,  however,  the  feeling  itself  seems  to 
have  lingered  long  after  actual  trials  had  ceased.  Thus 
it  is  well  known  that  the  terrible  trial  of  witches  held 
at  Marlboro',  under  Queen  Elizabeth,  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  so-called  witches'  sermon  to  be  delivered 
annually  at  Huntingdon,  and  this  custom  was  faith- 
fully observed  down  to  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 


42  MODERN   MAGIC. 

century.  Nearly  about  the  same  time — in  1743 — an 
earnest  effort  was  made  in  Scotland  to  kindle  once 
more  the  fire  of  fierce  persecution.  In  the  month  of 
February  of  that  year,  the  Associate  Presbytery,  in  a 
public  document  addressed  to  the  Presbytery  of  the 
Seceded  Churches,  required  for  certain  purposes  a 
solemn  acknowledgment  of  former  sins,  and  a  vow  to 
renounce  them  forever.  Among  these  sins  that  austere 
body  enumerated  the  "  abolition  of  the  death  penalty 
for  witchcraft,"  since  the  latter  was  forbidden  in  Holy 
Writ,  and  the  leniency  which  had  taken  the  place  of 
the  former  severity  in  punishing  this  crime,  had  given 
an  opening  to  Satan  to  tempt  and  actually  to  seduce 
others  by  means  of  the  same  old  accursed  and  dangerous 
snares. — (Edirib.  Rev.,  Jan.  1847.) 


IL 
BLACK  A?TO    WHITE  MAGIO. 

"  Peace  ! — tlie  charm 's  wound  up." — MACBETH. 

THE  most  startling  of  all  scenes  described  in  Holy 
Writ— as  far  as  they  represent  incidents  in  human  life — 
is,.no  doubt,  the  mysterious  interview  between  un- 
fortunate King  Saul  and  the  spirit  of  his  former  patron, 
the  prophet  Samuel.  The  poor  monarch,  abandoned 
by  his  friends  and  forsaken  by  his  own  heart,  turns  in 
his  utter  wretchedness  to  those  whom  he  had  but 
shortly  before  "put  out  of  the  land,"  those  godless 
people  who  "  had  familiar  spirits  and  the  wizards." 
Hard  pressed  by  the  ancient  enemy  of  his  people,  the 
Philistine,  and  unable  to  obtain  an  answer  from  the 
great  God  of  his  fathers,  he  stoops  to  consult  a  witch,  a 
woman.  It  seems  that  Sedecla,  the  daughter  of  the 
Decemdiabite — for  so  Philo  calls  her  according  to  Des 
Mousseaux — had  escaped  by  her  cunning  from  the  fate 
of  her  weird  sisters,  and,  having  a  familiar  spirit,  fore- 
told the  future  to  curious  enquirers  at  her  dwelling  in 
Endor.  At  first  she  is  unwilling  to  incur  the  penalty 
'threatened  in  the  king's  decree,  but  when  the  disguised 
monarch,  with  a  voice  of  authority  promises  her  im- 
punity, she  consents  to  "  bring  up  Samuel."  As  soon 


44  MODERN   MAGIC. 

as  the  fearful  phantom  of  the  dread  prophet  appears, 
she  becomes  instinctively  aware  of  the  true  character 
of  her  visitor,  and,  far  more  afraid  of  the  power  of  the 
living  than  of  the  appearance  of  the  departed,  she  cries 
out  trembling :  " Why  hast  thou  deceived  me?  Thou 
art  Saul!"  Then  follows  the  appalling  scene  in  which 
Samuel  reproves  the  miserable,  self-despairing  king, 
and  foretells  his  death  and  that  of  his  sons. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have  here  before  us 
an  instance  of  genuine  magic.  The  woman  was  evi- 
dently capable  of  casting  herself  into  a  state  of  ecstasy, 
in  which  she  could  at  once  look  back  into  the  past  and 
forward  into  the  future.  Thus  she  beholds  the  great 
prophet,  not  sent  by  God  from  on  high,  as  the  Holy 
Fathers  generally  taught,  but  according  to  the  then 
prevailing  belief,  rising  from  Sheol,  the  place  of  de- 
parted spirits,  and  then  she  utters,  unconsciously,  his 
own  words.  For  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  Samuel 
makes  no  revelations,  but  only  repeats  his  former 
warnings.  Saul  learns  absolutely  nothing  new  from 
him ;  he  only  hears  the  same  threatenings  which  the 
prophet  had  pronounced  twice  before,  when  the  reck- 
less king  had  dared  to  sacrifice  unto  God  with  his  own 
hand  (I.  Sam.  xiii. ),  and  when  he  had  failed  to  smite 
the  Amalekite,  as  he  Avas  bidden.  Possessed,  as  it 
were,  by  the  spirit  of  the  living  Samuel,  the  woman 
speaks  as  he  had  spoken  in  his  lifetime,  and  it  is  only 
when  her  state  of  exaltation  renders  her  capable  of 
looking  into  the  future  also,  that  she  assumes  the  part 


BLACK    AND    WHITK    MAGIC.  45 

of  a  prophetess  herself,  and  foretells  the  approaching 
doom  of  her  royal  visitor. 

That  the  whole  dread  scene  was  fore-ordained  and 
could  take  place  only  by  the  will  of  the  Almighty, 
alters  nothing  in  the  character  of  the  woman  with  the 
familiar  spirit.  It  is  a  clear  case  of  necromancy,  or 
conjuring  up  of  the  spirits  of  departed  persons,  such  as 
has  been  practised  among  men  from  time  immemorial. 
Among  the  chosen  people  of  God  persons  were  found 
from  the  beginning  of  their  history  who  had  familiar 
spirits,  and  Moses  already  fulminates  his  severest  ana- 
themas against  these  wizards  (Lev.  xx.  27).  They  ap- 
pear under  various  aspects,  as  charmers,  as  con  suiters 
of  familiar  spirits,  as  wizards,  or  as  necromancers 
(Deut.  xviii.  11) ;  they  are  charged  with  passing  their 
children  through  the  fire,  with  observing  times  (astro- 
logers) ;  with  using  enchantments ;  or  they  are  said  in 
a  general  way  to  "use  witchcraft"  (II.  Chron.  xxxiii.  6). 
That  other  nations  were  not  less  familiar  with  the  art 
of  evoking  spirits,  we  see,  for  instance,  in  the  "  Odyssey," 
which  mentions  numerous  cases  of  such  intercourse 
with  another  world,  and  speaks  of  necromancers  as 
forming  a  kind  of  close  guild.  In  the  "  Persius  "  of 
^Eschylus  the  spirit  of  Darius,  father  of  Xerxes,  is 
called  up  and  foretells  all  the  misfortunes  that  are  to 
befall  poor  Queen  Atossa.  The  greatest  among  the 
stern  Eomans  could  not  entirely  shake  off  the  belief  in 
such  magic,  in  spite  of  the  matter-of-fact  tendencies  of 
the  Roman  mind,  and  the  vast  superiority  of  their  in- 


46  MODERN  MAGIC. 

telligence.  A  Cato  and  a  Sylla,  a  Caesar  and  a  Ves- 
pasian, all  admitted,  with  clear  unfailing  perception, 
the  small  grains  of  truth  that  lay  concealed  among  the 
mass  of  rubbish  then  called  magic.  Even  Christian 
theology  has  never  absolutely  denied  the  existence  of 
such  extraordinary  powers  over  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted, although  it  has  consistently  attributed  them  to 
diabolic  influences. 

In  this  point  lies  the  main  difference  between  ancient 
and  modern  magic.  For  the  oldest  Magi  whom  we 
know  were  the  wise  men  of  Persia,  called,  from  mall 
(great),  Mugh,  the  great  men  of  the  land.  They  were 
the  philosophers  of  their  day,  and,  if  we  believe  the 
impartial  evidence  of  Greek  writers — not  generally  apt 
to  overestimate  the  merits  of  other  nations — they  were 
possessed  of  vast  and  varied  information.  Their  aim 
was  the  loftiest  ever  conceived  by  human  ambition  ;  it 
was,  in  fact,  nothing  less  than  the  erection  of  an  intel- 
lectual Tower  of  Babel.  They  devoted  the  labors  of  a 
lifetime,  and  the  full,  well-trained  vigor  of  their  intel- 
ligence to  the  study  of  the  forces  of  nature,  and  the 
true  character  of  all  created  beings.  Among  the  latter 
they  included  disembodied  spirits  as  well  as  those  still 
bound  up  with  bodies  made  of  earth,  considering  with 
a  wisdom  and  boldness  of  conception  never  yet  sur- 
passed, both  classes  as  one  and  the  same  eternal  crea- 
tion. The  knowledge  thus  acquired  they  were,  more- 
over, not  disposed  merely  to  store  away  in  their 
memory,  or  to  record  in  unattractive  manuscripts; 


BLACK  AND  WHITE  MAGIC.  47 

they  were  men  of  the  world  as  well  as  philosophers, 
and  looked  for  practical  results.  Here  the  pagan  spirit 
shone  forth  unrestrained;  the  end  and  aim  of  all  their 
restless  labors  was  Power.  Their  ambition  was  to  con- 
trol, by  the  superior  prestige  of  their  knowledge,  not 
only  the  mechanical  forces  of  Nature,  but  also  the 
lesser  capacities  of  other  created  beings,  and  finally 
Fate  itself !  Truly  a  lofty  and  noble  aim  if  we  view  it, 
as  in  equity  we  are  bound  to  do,  from  their  stand-point, 
as  men  possessing,  with  all  the  wisdom  of  the  earth,  as 
yet  not  a  particle  of  revealed  religion. 

It  was  only  at  a  much  later  period  that  a  distinction 
was  made  between  White  Magic  and  Black  Magic. 
This  arose  from  the  error  which  gradually  overspread 
the  minds  of  men,  that  such  extraordinary  powers — 
based,  originally,  only  upon  extraordinary  knowledge — 
were  not  naturally  given  to  men ;  but,  could  only  be 
obtained  by  the  special  favor  of  higher  beings,  with 
whom  the  owner  must  needs  enter  into  a  perilous 
league.  If  these  were  benevolent  deities,  the  results 
obtained  by  their  assistance  were  called  White  Magic; 
if  they  were  gods  of  ill-repute,  they  granted  the  power 
to  perform  feats  of  Black  Magic,  acts  of  wickedness, 
and  crimes.  Christianity,  though  it  abolished  the  gods 
of  paganism,  maintained,  nevertheless,  the  belief  in  ex- 
traordinary powers  accorded  by  supernatural  beings, 
and  the  same  distinction  continued  to  be  made.  Pious 
men  and  women  performed  miracles  by  the  aid  of 
angels  and  saints;  wicked  sinners  did  as  much  by  an 


48  MODEKX   MAGIC. 

unholy  league  with  the  Evil  One.  The  Egyptian 
charmer,  of  Apulejus,  who  declared  that  no  miracle 
was  too  difficult  for  his  art,  since  he  exercised  the  blind 
power  of  deities  who  were  subject  to  his  will,  only 
expressed  what  the  lazzarone  of  Naples  feels  in  our 
day,  when  he  whips  his  saint  with  a  bundle  of  reeds,  in 
order  to  compel  him  to  do  his  bidding.  Magicians  did 
not  change  their  doctrine ;  they  hardly  even  modified 
their  ceremonies  ;  their  allegiance  only  was  transferred 
from  Jnpiter  to  Jehovah,  even  as  the  same  column  that 
once  bore  the  great  Thunderer  on  Olympus,  is  now 
crowned  by  a  statue  of  Peter  Boanerges.  Nor  has  the 
race  of  magicians  ever  entirely  died  out;  we  find 
enough  notices  in  classic  authors,  whose  evidence  is  un- 
impeachable, to  know  that  the  Greeks  were  apt  scholars 
of  the  ancient  Magi  and  transferred  the  knowledge 
they  had  thus  obtained  and  long  jealously  guarded,  to 
the  priests  of  Egypt,  who  in  their  turn  became  the 
masters  of  the  two  mightiest  nations  on  earth.  First 
Moses  sat  at  their  feet  till,  at  the  age  of  forty,  he  "  was 
learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,"  and  could 
successfully  cope  with  their  "magicians  and  sorcerers." 
Then  the  land  of  the  Xile  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Romans,  and  poverty  and  neglect  drove  the  wise  men 
of  Egypt  to  seek  refuge  in  the  capital  of  the  world, 
where  they  either  lived  upon  the  minor  arts  and  cun- 
ning tricks  of  their  false  fate,  or,  being  converted  to 
Christianity,  infected  the  pure  faith  with  their  ill- 
applied  knowledge.  Certain  portions  of  true  magic 


BLACK  AXD  WHITE  MAGIC.  49 

survived  through  all  persecutions  and  revolutions; 
some  precious  secrets  were  preserved  by  the  philosophers 
of  later  ages  and  have — if  Ave  believe  the  statements 
made  by  trustworthy  writers  of  every  century — ever 
since  continued  in  the  possession  of  Freemasons  and 
Rosicrucians ;  others  became  mixed  up  with  vile  super- 
stitious and  impious  practices,  and  only  exist  now  as 
the  Black  Art  of  so-called  magicians  and  witches. 

AYherever  magic  found  a  fertile  soil  among  the  peo- 
ple, it  became  a  science,  handed  down  from  father  to 
son,  and  such  we  find  it  still  in  the  East  Indies  and  the 
Orient  generally ;  when  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  skeptics, 
or  weak,  feeble-minded  men,  it  degenerated  with  amaz- 
ing speed  into  imposture  and  common  jugglery.  What 
is  evident  about  magic  is  the  well-established  fact 
that  its  ceremonies,  forms,  and  all  other  accessories 
are  almost  infinite  in  variety  since  they  are  merely 
accidental  vehicles  for  the  will  of  man,  and  real  magi- 
cians know  very  well  that  the  importance  of  such 
external  aids  is  not  only  overrated  but  altogether  falla- 
cious. The  sole  purpose  of  the  burning  of  perfumes, 
of  imposing  ceremonies  and  awe-inspiring  procedures, 
is  to  aid  in  producing  the  two  conditions  which  are 
indispensable  for  all  magic  phenomena :  the  magician 
must  be  excited  till  his  condition  is  one  resembling 
mental  intoxication  or  becomes  a  genuine  trance,  and 
the  passive  subject  must  be  made  susceptible  to  the 
control  of  the  superior  mind.  For  it  need  not  be 
added,  that  the  latter  will  all  the  more  readily  be 


50  MODEKX   MAGIC. 

affected,  the  feebler  his  will  and  the  more  imperfect  his 
mental  vision  may  be  by  nature  or  may  have  been 
rendered  by  training  and  careful  preparation.  Hence 
it  is  that  the  magic  table  of  the  dervish  ;  the  enchanted 
drum  of  the  shaman  ;  the  medicine-bag  of  the  Indian 
are  all  used  for . precisely  the  same  purpose  as  the  ring 
of  Hecate ;  the  divining  rod  and  the  magic  wand  of  the 
enchanter.  Legend  and  amulet,  mummy  and  wax- 
figure,  herb  and  stone,  drug  and  elixir,  incense  and 
ointment,  are  all  but  the  means,  which  the  strong  will 
of  the  gifted  Master  uses  in  order  to  influence  and 
finally  to  control  the  weaker  mind.  Thus  powerful 
perfumes,  narcotic  odors,  and  anaesthetic  salves  are  em- 
ployed to  produce  enervation  and  often  actual  and  com- 
plete loss  of  self-control;  in  other  cases  the  neophyte 
has  to  turn  round  and  round  within  the  magic  circle, 
from  east  to  west,  till  he  becomes  giddy  and  utterly 
exhausted.  It  is  very  curious  to  observe  how.  as  far  as 
these  preparations  go,  in  the  most  distant  countries  and 
among  the  most  different  forms  of  society  the  same 
means  are  employed  for  the  same  purpose:  the  whirling 
dance  of  the  fanatic  dervish  is  perfectly  analogous  to 
the  wild  raving  of  our  Indian  medicine-man,  who  ties 
himself  with  a  rope  to  a  post  and  then  whirls  around  it 
in  fierce  fury.  Thus,  also,  the  oldest  magicians  speak 
with  profound  reverence  of  the  powers  of  a  little  herb, 
known  to  botanists  as  Hypcrieum  pcrforatum  L.,  and 
behold!  in  the  year  1860  a  German  author  of  eminence, 
Justinus  Kerner,  still  taught  seriously,  that  the  leaves 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  51 

of  that  plant  were  the  best  means  to  banish  evil  spirits! 
Mandrake  and  elder  have  held  their  own  in  the  false 
faith  of  nations  from  the  oldest  times  to  our  day,  and 
even  now  Germans  as  well  as  slaves  love  to  plant  the 
latter  everywhere  in  their  graveyards,  as  suggestive  of 
the  realm  of  spirits ! 

White  Magic,  though  strictly  forbidden  by  the 
Church  in  all  ages,  seems  nevertheless  to  have  had 
irresistible  attractions  for  wise  and  learned  men  of  every 
country.  This  charm  it  owes  to  the  many  elements  of 
truth  which  are  mixed  up  with  the  final  error;  for  it 
aims  at  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  mysteries  of 
Nature — and  so  far  its  purpose  is  legitimate  and  very 
tempting  to  superior  minds — but  only  in  order  to 
obtain  by  such  knowledge  a  power  which  Holy  Writ 
expressly  denies  to  man.  When  it  prescribes  the  study 
of  Xature  as  being  the  outer  temple  of  God  and  repre- 
sents all  the  parts  of  this  vast  edifice,  from  the  central 
sun  of  the  universe  to  the  minutest  living  creation,  as 
bound  up  by  a  common  sympathy,  no  objection  can  be 
made  to  its  doctrines,  and  even  the  greatest  minds  may 
fairly  enroll  themselves  here  as  its  pupils.  But  when  it 
ascribes  to  this  sympathy  an  active  power  and  attributes 
to  secret  names  of  the  Deity,  to  certain  natural  products, 
or  to  mechanically  regulated  combinations  of  the  stars, 
a  peculiar  and  supernatural  effect,  it  sinks  into  con- 
temptible superstition.  Hence  the  constant  aim  of  all 
White  Magic,  the  successful  summoning  of  superior 
spirits  for  the  purpose  of  learning  from  them  what  is 


52  MODERN   MAGIC. 

purposely  kept  concealed  from  the  mind  of  man,  has 
never  yet  been  reached.  For  it  is  sin,  the  same  sin  that 
craved  to  eat  from  the  tree  of  knowledge.  Hence,  also, 
no  beneficial  end  has  ever  yet  been  obtained  by  the 
practices  of  magic,  although  wise  and  learned  men  of 
every  age  have  spent  their  lives  and  risked  the  salvation 
of  their  souls  in  restless  efforts  to  lift  the  veil  of  Isis. 

Black  Magic,  the  Kishuph  of  the  Hebrews,  avows 
openly  its  purpose  of  forming  a  league  with  evil 
spirits  in  order  tp  attain  selfish  ends,  which  are  inva- 
riably fatal  to  others.  And  yet  it  is  exactly  here'that 
we  meet  with  great  numbers  of  well-authenticated 
cases  of  success,  which  preclude  all  doubt  and  force 
us  to  admit  the  occasional  efficiency  of  such  sinful 
alliances.  The  art  flourishes  naturally  best  among 
the  lowest  races  of  mankind,  where  gross  ignorance 
is  allied  with  blind  faith,  and  the  absence  of  inspira- 
tion leaves  the  mind  in  natural  darkness.  We  cannot 
help  being  struck  here  also  with  the  fact  that  the 
means  employed  for  such  purposes  have  been  the  same 
in  almost  all  ages.  Headers  of  classic  writers  are 
familiar  with  the  drum  of  Cybele — the  Laplanders 
have  from  time  immemorial  had  the  same  drum,  on 
which  heaven,  hell,  and  earth  are  painted  in  bright 
colors,  and  reproduce  in  pictorial  writing  the  letters 
of  the  modern  spiritualist.  A  ring  is  placed  upon 
the  tightly  stretched  skin,  which  slight  blows  with 
a  hammer  cause  to  vibrate,  and  according  to  the 
apparently  erratic  motions  of  the  ring  over  the  varied 


BLACK    AXD    \V1IITE   MAGIC.  53 

figiires  of  gods,  men,  and  beasts,  the  future  is  re- 
vealed. The  consulting  savage  lies  on  his  knees,  and 
as  the  pendulum  between  our  fingers  and  the  pencil 
of  Plauchette  in  our  hand  write  apparently  at  hap- 
hazard, but  in  reality  under  the  pressure  of  our  mus- 
cles acting  through  the  unconscious  influence  of  our 
will,  so  here  also  the  beats  of  the  hammer  only  seem 
to  be  fortuitous,  but,  in  reality,  are  guided  by  the 
ecstatic  owner.  For  already  Olaf  Magnus  ("Hist. 
Goth."  L.  3,  ch.  26)  tells  us  that  the  incessant  beating 
of  the  drum,  and  the  wild,  exulting  singing  of  the 
magician  for  hours  before  the  actual  ceremony  begins, 
cause  him  to  fall  into  a  state  of  exaltation,  without 
which  he  would  be  unable  to  see  the  future.  That 
the  drum  is  a  mere  accident  in  the  ceremony  was 
strikingly  proved  by  a  Laplander,  who  delivered  up 
his  instrument  of  witchcraft  to  the  pious  missionary 
(Toruaeus)  by  whom  he  had  been  converted,  and 
who  soon  came  to  complain  that  even  without  his 
drum  he  could  not  help  seeing  hidden  things — an 
assertion  which  he  proved  by  reciting  to  the  amazed 
minister  all  the  minute  details  of  his  recent  journey. 
Who  can  help,  while  reading  of  these  savage  magi- 
cians, recalling  the  familiar  ring  and  drumstick  in  the 
left  hand  of  the  Eoman  Isis — statues  with  a  drum 
above  the  head,  or  the  rarely  missing  ring  and  ham- 
mer in  the  hands  of  the  Egyptian  Isis?  It  need 
hardly  be  added  that  the  Indians  of  our  continent 
have  practised  the  art  with  more  or  less  success  from 


54  MODERN   MAGIC. 

the  day  .of  discovery  to  our  own  times.  Already 
Wafer  in  his  "Descr.  of  the  Isthmus  of  Darien"  (1699) 
describes  how  Indian  sorcerers,  after  careful  prepara- 
tion, were  able  to  inform  him  of  a  number  of  future 
events,  every  one  of  which  came  to  pass  in  the  suc- 
ceeding days.  The  prince  of  Xeu-Wied  again  met 
a  famous  medicine-man  among  the  Crea  Indians, 
whose  prophecies  were  readily  accepted  by  the  whites 
even,  and  of  whose  power  he  witnessed  unmistakable 
evidence.  Bon  duel,  a  well-known  and  generally  per- 
fectly trustworthy  writer,  affirms,  from  personal  knowl- 
edge, that  among  the  Menomonees  tbe  medicine-men 
not  only  practise  magic,  but  are  able  to  produce  most 
astounding  results.  After  beating  their  drum,  Bonduel 
used  to  hear  a  heavy  fall  and  a  faint,  inarticulate 
voice,  whereupon  the  tent  of  the  charmer  though 
fifteen  feet  high,  rose  in  the  air  and  inclined  first  on 
one  and  tben  on  the  other  side.  This  was  the  time  of 
the  interview  between  the  medicine-man  and  the 
evil  spirit.  Small  doll-like  figures  of  men  also  were 
used,  barely  two  inches  long,  and  tied  to  medicine- 
bags.  They  served  mainly  to  inflame  Avomen  with 
loving  ardor,  and  when  efficient  could  drive  the  poor 
creatures  to  pursue  their  beloved  for  days  and  nights 
through  the  wild  forests.  Other  missionaries  also 
affirm  that  these  medicine-men  must  have  been  able 
to  read  the  signs  and  perhaps  to  feel  in  advance  the 
effects  of  the  weather  with  amazing  accuracy,  since 
they  frequently  engaged  to  procure  storms  for  special 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  55 

purposes,  and  never  failed.  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
that  according  to  the  unanimous  testimony  of  all 
writers  on  Indian  affairs,  these  medicine-men  almost 
invariably  find  a  violent  and  wretched  death. 

It  is  not  without  interest  to  recall  that  the  prevailing 
forms  of  the  magic  of  our  day,  as  far  as  they  consist  of 
table-moving,  spirit-rapping,  and  the  like,  have  their 
origin  among  the  natives  of  our  continent  The 
earliest  notice  of  these  strange  performances  appeared 
in.  the  great  journal  of  Augsburg,  in  Germany  (Allge- 
meine  Zeitung),  where  Audree  mentioned  their  occur- 
rence among  Western  Indians.  Sargent  gave  us  next 
a  more  detailed  description  of  the  manner  in  which 
many  a  wigwam  or  log-cabin  in  Iowa  became  the  scene 
of  startling  revelations  by  means  of  a  clumsy  table 
which  hopped  merrily  about,  or  a  half-drunk,  red- 
skinned  medium,  from  whose  lips  fell  uncouth  words. 
(Spicer,  "  Lights  and  Sounds,"  p.  190.)  It  was  only  in 
1847  that  the  famous  Fox  family  brought  these  phenom- 
ena within  the  pale  of  civilization:  having  rented  a 
house  in  Hydeville,  N.  Y.,  already  ill-reputed  on  account 
of  mysterious  noises,  they  reduced  these  knockings  to  a 
kind  of  system,  and,  by  means  of  an  alphabet,  obtained 
the  important  information  that  they  were  the  work  of 
a  "  spirit,"  and  that  his  name  was  Charles  Kay.  Mar- 
garet Fox  transplanted  the  rappings  to  Rochester ; 
Catherine,  only  twelve  years  old,  to  Auburn,  and  from 
these  two  central  places  the  new  Magic  spread  rapidly 
throughout  the  Union.  Opposition  and  persecutions 


56  MODERX    MAGIC. 

served,  as  they  are  apt  to  do,  only  to  increase  the 
interest  of  the  public.  A  Mrs.  Norman  Culver  proved, 
it  is  true,  that  rappings  could  easily  be  produced  by 
certain  muscular  movements  of  the  knee  and  the 
ankle,  and  a  committee  of  investigation,  of  which 
Fenimore  Cooper  was  a  member,  obtained  ample  evi- 
dence of  such  a  method  being  used ;  but  the  faith  of 
the  believers  was  not  shaken.  The  moving  of  tables, 
especially,  furnished  to  their  minds  new  evidence  of 
the  actual  presence  of  spirits,  and  soon  circles  were 
established  in  nearly  all  the  Northern  and  Western 
States,  formed  by  persons  of  education  without  regard 
to  confession,  who  called  themselves  Spiritualists  or 
Spiritists,  and  their  most  favored  associates  Media. 
A  number  of  men,  whose  intelligence  and  candor  were 
alike  unimpeachable,  became  members  of  the  new  sect, 
among  them  a  judge,  a  governor  of  a  State,  and  a  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry.  They  organized  societies  and 
circles,  they  published  journals  and  several  works  of 
interest  and  value,  and  produced  results  which  more 
and  more  strengthened  their  convictions. 

The  new  art  met,  naturally,  with  much  opposition, 
especially  among  the  ministers  and  members  of  the 
different  churches.  Some  of  the  opponents  laughed  at 
the  whole  as  a  clever  jugglery,  which  deserved  its  great 
success  on  account  of  the  '''smartness"  of  the  per- 
formers ;  others  denounced  it  as  a  heresy  and  a  crime  ; 
the  former,  of  course,  saw  in  it  nothing  but  the  hand 
of  man,  while  the  latter  admitted  the  agency  of  spirits, 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  57 

but  of  spirits  from  below  and  not  from  above.  An 
amusing  feature  connected  with  public  opinion  on  this 
subject  was,  that  when  trade  was  prosperous  and  money 
abundant,  spiritualism  also  flourished  and  found  nu- 
merous adherents,  but  when  business  was  slow,  or  a 
crisis  took  place,  all  minds  turned  away  from  the 
favorite  pastime,  and  instinctively  joined  once  more 
with  the  pious  believers  in  the  denunciation  of  the  new 
magic.  Thus  a  kind  of  antagonism  has  gradually 
arisen  between  orthodox  Christians  and  enthusiastic 
spiritualists ;  the  controversy  is  carried  on  with  great 
energy  on  both  sides,  and,  alas!  to  the  eye  of  the 
general  observer,  magic  is  gaining  ground  every  day, 
at  least  its  adherents  increase  steadily  in  numbers,  and 
even  in  social  weight  (Tuttle,  "Arena  of  Mature.") 
Not  long  ago  the  National  Convention  of  Spiritualists, 
at  their  great  meeting  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.  (August, 
1868),  laid  down  nineteen  fundamental  principles  of 
their  new  creed;  their  doctrines  are  based  upon  the 
fact  that  we  are  constantly  surrounded  by  an  invisible 
host  of  spirits,  who  desire  to  help  us  in  returning  once 
more  to  the  father  of  all  things,  the  Great  Spirit. 

Modern  magic  met  with  the  same  opposition  in 
Europe.  The  French  Academy,  claiming,  as  usually, 
to  be  supreme  authority  in  all  matters  of  science, 
declined,  nevertheless,  to  decide  the  question.  Arago, 
who  read  the  official  report  before  the  august  body, 
closed  with  the  words :  "  I  do  not  believe  a  word  of  it ! " 
but  his  colleagues  remembered,  perhaps,  that  their 
3* 


58  MODERN   MAGIC. 

predecessors  had  once  or  twice  before  committed  them- 
selves grievously.  Had  not  the  same  Academy  pro- 
nounced against  the  use  of  quinine  and  vaccination, 
against  lightning-rods  and  steam-engines  ?  Had  not 
Keaurnur  suppressed  Peyssonel's  "Essay  on  Corals," 
because  he  thought  it  was  madness  to  maintain  their 
animal  nature ;  had  not  his  learned  brethren  decreed, 
in  1802,  that  there  were  no  meteors,  although  a  short 
time  later  two  thousand  fell  in  one  department  alone  ; 
and  had  they  not,  more  recently  still,  received  the  news 
of  ether  being  useful  as  an  anesthetic  with  scorn  and 
unanimous  condemnation  ?  Perhaps  they  recalled  Dr. 
Hare's  assertion  that  our  own  Society  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Useful  Knowledge  had,  in  1855,  refused  to 
hear  a  report  on  Spiritualism,  preferring  to  discuss  the 
important  question :  '•'  Why  do  roosters  always  crow 
between  midnight  and  one  o'clock?"  At  all  events 
they  heard  the  report  and  remained  silent.  In  the 
same  manner  Alexander  von  Humboldt  refused  to 
examine  the  question.  This  indiiference  did  not,  how- 
ever, check  the  growth  of  Spiritualism  in  France,  but 
its  followers  divided  into  two  parties:  spiritualists, 
under  Rivail,  who  called  himself  Allan  Cardep,  and 
spiritists,  under  Pierard.  The  former  died  in  1869, 
after  having  seen  his  Livre  des  Esprits  reappear  in 
fifteen  editions;  to  seal  his  mission,  he  sent,  imme- 
diately after  his  death,  his  spirit  to  inform  his  eager 
pupils,  who  crowded  around  the  dead  body  of  their 
leader,  of  his  first  impressions  in  the  spirit  world.  If 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  59 

the  style  is  the  man  (le  style  c'est  Thomme),  no  one 
could  doubt  that  it  was  his  spirit  who  spoke. 

Perhaps  the  most  estimable  high -priest  of  this 
branch  of  modern  rnagic  is  a  well  known  professor 
of  Geneva,  Eoessinger,  a  physician  of  great  renown 
and  much  beloved  by  all  who  know  him.  He  is,  how- 
ever, a  rock  of  offense  to  American  spiritualists,  be- 
cause he  has  ever  remained  firmly  attached  to  his 
religious  faith,  and  admits  no  spiritual  revelations  as 
genuine  which  do  not  entirely  harmonize  with  the  doc- 
trines of  Christ  and  the  statements  of  the  Bible.  Un- 
fortunately this  leads  him  to  believe  that  his  favorite 
medium,  a  young  lady  enjoying  the  mystic  name  of 
Libna,  speaks  under  the  direct  inspiration  of  God 
himself!  In  England  the  new  magic  has  not  only 
numerous  but  also  influential  adherents,  like  Lord 
Lytton  and  the  Darwinian  Wallace;  papers  like  the 
Star  and  journals  like  the  Cornliill  Magazine,  support 
it  with  ability,  and  names  like  Home  in  former  years 
and  Newton  in  our  day,  who  not  only  reveal  secrets 
but  actually  heal  the  sick,  have  given  a  new  prestige  to 
the  young  science.  The  works  of  Howitt  and  Dr. 
Ashburner,  of  Mrs.  Morgan  and  Mrs.  Crossland  have 
treated  the  subject  under  various  aspects,  and  in  the 
year  1871,  Crookes,  a  well-known  chemist,  investigated 
the  phenomena  of  Home's  revelations  by  means  of  an 
apparatus  specially  devised  for  the  purpose.  The  re- 
sult was  the  conviction  that  if  not  spiritual,  they  were 
at  least  not  produced  by  any  power  now  known  to  sci- 
ence.—  Quart.  Journ.  of  Science,  July,  1871. 


60  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

In  Germany  the  new  magic  has  been  far  less  pop- 
ular than  elsewhere,  but,  in  return,  it  has  been  there 
most  thoroughly  investigated.  Men  of  great  eminence 
in  science  and  in  philosophy  have  published  extensive 
works  on  the  subject,  which  are,  however,  more  re- 
markable for  zeal  and  industry  than  for  acute  judg- 
ment. Gerster  in  Eegensburg  claimed  to  have  invented 
the  Psychography,  but  Szapary  in  Paris  and  Cohnfeld 
in  Berlin  discovered  at  the  same  time  the  curious  in- 
strument known  to  us  as  Planchette.  The  most  prac- 
tical measure  taken  in  Germany  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  the  truth  was  probably  the  formation  of  a 
society  for  spirit  studies,  which  met  for  the  first  time 
in  Dresden  in  1869,  and  purposes  to  obtain  an  insight 
into  those  laws  of  nature  which  are  reported  to  make 
it  possible  to  hold  direct  and  constant  intercourse 
with  the  world  of  spirits.  Here,  as  in  the  whole  ten- 
dency of  this  branch  of  magic,  we  see  the  workings 
not  merely  of  idle  curiosity  but  of  that  ardent  longing 
after  a  knowledge  of  the  future  and  a  certainty  of  per- 
sonal eternity,  which  dwells  in  the  hearts  of  all  men. 

The  phenomena  of  modern  magic  were  first  imper- 
fect rappings  against  the  wall,  the  legs  of  a  table  or  a 
•chair,  accompanied  by  the  motion  of  tables ;  then 
followed  spirit-writing  by  the  aid  of  a  psychograph  or 
a  simple  pencil,  and  finally  came  direct  "  spirit-writ- 
ings," drawings  by  the  media,  together  with  musical 
and  poetical  inspirations,  the  whole  reaching  a  climax 
in  spirit-photographs.  The  ringing  of  bells,  the  danc- 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  61 

ing  of  detached  hands  in  the  air.  the  raising  up  of  the 
entire  body  of  a  man,  and  musical  performances  with- 
out human  aid  were  only  accomplished  in  a  few  cases 
by  specially  favored  individuals.  Two  facts  alone  are 
fully  established  in  connection  with  all  these  phenom- 
ena :  one,  that  some  of  the  latter  at  least  are  not  pro- 
duced by  the  ordinary  forces  of  nature;  and. the  other, 
that  the  performers  are  generally,  and  the  medium 
always,  in  a  more  or  less  complete  state  of  trance.  In 
this  condition  they  forget  themselves,  give  their  mind 
up  entirely  into  the  hands  of  others — the  media — and 
candidly  believe  they  see  and  hear  what  they  are  told 
by  the  latter  is  taking  place  in  their  presence.  Hence 
also  the  well-established  fact  that  the  spirits  have 
never  yet  revealed  a  single  secret,  nor  ever  made 
known  to  us  anything  really  new.  Their  style  is  in- 
variably the  same  as  that  in  which  ecstatic  and  som- 
nambulistic persons  are  apt  to  speak.  A  famous  Ger- 
man spiritualist,  Hornung,  whose  faith  was  well 
known,  once  laid  his  hands  upon  his  planchette 
together  with  his  wife,  and  then  asked  if  there  really 
was  a  world  of  spirits?  To  the  utter  astonishment 
of  all  present,  the  psychograph  replied  No!  and  when 
questioned  again  and  again,  became  troublesome.  The 
fact  was  simply  that  the  would-be  magician's  wife 
did  not  believe  in  spirits,  and  as  hers  was  the  stronger 
will,  the  answer  came  froni  her  mind  and  not  from  her 
husband's.  On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  media — most  frequently  delicate  women  of  high 


02  MODERN   MAGIC. 

nervous  sensibility,  and  almost  always  leading  lives  of 
•constant  and  wearying  excitement — become  on  such 
occasions  wrought  up  to  a  degree  which  resembles 
somnambulism  and  may  really  enable  them,  occa- 
sionally, in  a  state  of  clairvoyance,  to  see  what  is  hid- 
den to  others.  It  is  they  who  are  "  vitalized,"  as  they 
call  it,  and  not  the  knocking  table,  or  the  writing 
planchette,  and  hence  arises  the  necessity  of  a  medium 
for  all  such  communications.  That  there  are  no 
spirits  at  work  in  these  phenomena  requires  hardly  to 
be  stated;  even  the  most  ardent  and  enthusiastic  ad- 
herents of  the  new  magic  cannot  deny,  that  no  orig- 
inal revelation  concerning  the  world  of  spirits  has  yet 
been  made,  but  that  all  that  is  told  is  but  an  echo  of 
the  more  or  less  familiar  views  of  men.  It  is  far  more 
interesting  to  notice,  with  Coleman,  the  electric  and 
hygroscopic  condition  of  the  atmosphere,  which  has 
evidently  much  to  do  with  such  exhibitions.  The 
visions  of  hands,  arms,  and  heads,  which  move  about 
in  the  air  and  may  occasionally  even  be  felt,  are  either 
mere  hallucinations  or  real  objective  appearances,  due 
to  a  peculiar  condition  of  the  air,  and  favorably  inter- 
preted by  the  predisposed  mind.  Hence,  also,  our  own 
continent  is,  for  its  superior  dry  ness  of  atmosphere, 
much  more  favorable  to  the  development  of  such  phe- 
nomena than  that  of  Europe. 

Spiritualists  in  the  Old  as  in  the  New  World  are 
hopeful  that  the  new  magic  will  produce  a  new  uni- 
versal religion,  and  a  better  social  order.  In  this  di- 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  63 

rection,  however,  no  substantial  success  has  yet  been 
obtained.  Outsiders  had  expected  that  at  least  an  in- 
tercourse with  departed  spirits  might  be  secured,  and 
thus  the  immortality  of  man  might  be  practically 
demonstrated.  But  this  also  has  not  yet  been  done. 
What  then  can  we  learn  from  modern  magic?  Only 
this :  that  there  are  evidently  forces  in  nature  with 
whose  character  and  precise  intent  we  are  not  yet  ac- 
quainted, and  which  yet  deserve  to  be  studied  and 
carefully  analyzed.  Modern  magic  exhibits  certain 
phenomena  in  man  which  are  not  subject  to  the  known 
laws  of  nature,  and  thus  proves  that  man  possesses  cer- 
tain powers  which  he  .fails  or  does  not  know  how  to 
exert  in  ordinary  life.  Where  these  powers  appear  in 
consequence  of  special  preparation  or  an  exceptional 
condition  of  mind,  they  are  comparatively  worthless, 
because  they  are  in  such  cases  merely  the  result  of 
physical  or  mental  disease,  and  we  can  hope  to  profit 
only  by  powers  employed  by  sound  men.  But  where 
these  powers  become  manifest  by  spontaneous  action, 
apparently  as.  the  result  of  special  endowment,  they  de- 
serve careful  study,  and  all  the  respect  due  to  a  new  and 
unknown  branch  of  knowledge. 

Nor  must  it  be  overlooked,  that,  although  modern 
magic  as  a  science  is  new,  most  of  the  phenomena  upon 
which  it  is  based,  were  well  known  to  the  oldest  nations. 
The  Chinese,  who  seem  to  have  possessed  all  the  knowl- 
edge of  mankind,  ages  before  it  could  be  useful  to  them, 
or  to  others,  and  to  have  lost  it  as  soon  as  there  was  a 


64  MODERN   MAGIC. 

call  for  it,  had,  centuries  ago,  not  only  moving  tables, 
but  even  writing  spirits.  Their  modern  planchette  is  a 
small  board,  which  they  let  float  upon  the  water,  with  the 
legs  upward ;  they  rest  their  hands  upon  the  latter,  and 
watch  the  gyrations  it  makes  in  the  water.  Or  they 
hold  a  small  basket  with  a  camel's-hair  brush  attached 
to  one  end  suspended  over  a  table  upon  which  they 
have  strewn  a  layer  of  flour;  the  brush  begins  to  move 
through  the  flour  and  to  draw  characters  in  it,  which 
they  interpret  according  to  their  alphabet.  The  priests 
of  Buddha  in  Mongolia,  also,  have  long  since  employed 
moving  tables,  and  for  a  good  purpose,  usually  to  detect 
thieves.  The  lama,  who  is  appealed  to  for  the  purpose, 
sits  down  before  a  small  four-legged  table,  upon  which 
he  rests  his  hands,  whilst  reading  a  book  of  devotion. 
After  perhaps  half  an  hour,  he  rises,  and  as  he  does  so, 
holding  his  hand  steadily  upon  the  table,  the  table  also 
rises  and  follows  his  hand,  which  he  raises  till  hand 
and  table  are  both  level  with  his  eyes.  Then  the  priest 
advances,  the  table  precedes  him,  and  soon  begins  to 
move  at  such  a  rate  that  it  seems  to  fly  through  the  air, 
and  the  lama  can  hardly  follow.  Sometimes  it  falls 
down  upon  the  very  spot  where  the  stolen  goods  are 
hidden ;  at  other  times  it  only  indicates  the  direction  in 
which  they  are  to  be  sought  for;  and  not  unfrequently 
it  refuses  altogether  to  move,  in  which  event  the  priest 
abandons  the  case  as  hopeless.  (Xord.  Biene.  April 
27,  1853.)  Here  also  it  is  evident  that  the  table  is  not 
the  controlling  agent,  but  the  will  of  the  lama,  whom 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  65 

it  obeys  by  one  of  those  mysterious  powers  which  we  call 
magic.  It  is  the  same  force  which  acts  in  the  divining 
rod,  the  pendulum,  and  similar  phenomena. 

The  name  of  Medium  is  an  American  invention,  and 
is  based  upon  the  assumption  that  only  a  few  favored 
persons  are  able  to  enter  into  direct  communication  with 
spirits,  who  may  then  convey  the  revelations  they  receive 
to  others.  They  are  generally  children  and  young 
persons,  but  among  grown  men  also  certain  constitutions 
seem  to  be  better  adapted  to  such  purposes  than  others. 
In  almost  all  cases  it  has  been  observed,  that  the  elec- 
tric condition  of  the  medium  is  a  feature  of  greatest  im- 
portance ;  the  more  electricity  he  possesses,  the  better  is 
he  able  to  produce  magic  phenomena,  and  when  his  sup- 
ply is  exhausted  by  a  long  session,  his  power,  also  ceases. 
Hence,  perhaps,  the  peculiar  qualification  of  children ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  fact  that  they  not  unfre- 
quently  are  able  to  answer  questions,  in  languages,  of 
which  they  are  ignorant,  proves  that  they  also  do  not. 
themselves  give  the  reply,  but  only  receive  it  from  the 
questioner,  and  state  it  as  it  exists  in  the  mind  of  the 
latter.  Hence,  also,  the  utter  absurdity  of  so-culled  spirit 
paintings,  and,  still  Averse,  of  poetical  effusions  like  Mr. 
Harris'  "  Lyric  of  the  Golden  Age,"  in  eleven  thousand 
four  hundred  and  thirty  wretched  verses.  For  what  the 
"circle"  does  not  know  individually  or  collectively,  the 
medium  also  is  not  able  to  produce.  This  truth  is 
made  still  more  evident  by  the  latest  phenomena  de- 
veloped in  spiritualistic  circles,  the  so-called  trance 


66  MODEKX   MAGIC. 

speaking,  which  may  be  heard  occasionally  in  New  York 
circles,  and  which,  requires  no  interposition  of  a  me- 
dium. For  here,  also,  we  are  struck  by  the  utter  ab- 
sence of  usefulness  in  all  these  revelations;  the  inspired 
believers  speak,  they  recite  poetry,  but  it  remains  liter- 
ally vox  et  prceterea  nihil,  and  we  are  forcibly  reminded 
of  the  words  of  ^Eschylus,  who  already  said  in  his 
"Agamemnon"  (v.  1127), 

"  Did  ever  seers  afford  delight 
The  long  practised  art  of  all  the  seers  whom 
Ever  the  gods  inspired,  revealed 
Naught  but  horrors  and  a  wretched  fate." 

Among  the  media  of  our  day,  Home  is  naturally 
facile  princeps.  A  Scotchman  by  birth,  he  claims  that 
his  mother  already  possessed  the  gift  of  Second  Sight, 
and  that  in  their  home  near  Edinburgh  similar  endow- 
ments were  frequent  among  their  neighbors.  At  the 
age  of  three  years  he  saw  the  death  of  a  cousin,  who 
lived  in  a  distant  town,  and  named  the  persons  who 
were  standing  around  her  couch ;  he  conversed  con- 
stantly in  his  childish  way  with  spirits  and  heard  heav- 
enly music;  his  cradle  was  rocked  by  invisible  hands, 
and  his  toys  came  unaided  into  his  hands.  When  ten 
years  old  he  was  taken  to  an  aunt  in  America,  in  whose 
house  he  had  no  sooner  been  installed  than  chairs  and 
tables,  beds  and  utensils,  began  to  move  about  in  wild 
disorder,  till  the  terrified  lady  sent  the  unlucky  boy 
away.  Attending  once  an  exhibition  of  table-moving 
he  fell  into  fits  and  suddenly  became  cataleptic;  during 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    51  AGIO.  67 

the  paroxysm  lie  heard  a  summoning,  then  the  spirits 
announced  the  wrecking  of  two  sailors,  the  table  began 
to  rock  as  in  a  storm,  the  whistling  of  the  wind  through 
the  tackle,  the  creaking  of  the  vessel,  and  the  dull,  heavy 
thud  of  the  waves  against  her  bows,  all  were  distinctly 
heard,  and  finally  the  table  was  upset,  while  the  spirits 
announced  the  name  and  the  age  of  the  perishing 
seamen.  From  that  day  Home  carefully  cultivated  his 
strange  gifts,  and  developed  what  he  considered  a 
decided  talent  for  reading  the  future.  As  a  young  man 
he  returned  to  Europe  and  soon  became  famous-  Flor- 
ence was,  for  a  time,  the  principal  stage  of  his  successes; 
here  he  not  only  summoned  the  spirits  of  the  departed, 
but  was  raised  by  invisible  powers  from  the  ground  and 
hovered  for  some  time  above  the  heads  of  his  visitors. 
The  superstitious  Italians  finally  became  excited  and 
threatened  him  with  death,  from  which  a  Count  Branichi 
saved  him  at  great  personal  peril.  In  Xaples  the 
spirits  suddenly  declared  their  intention  to  leave  him 
on  February  10, 1856,  and  to  remain  absent  for  a  whole 
year  ;  they  did  so,  and  during  the  interval  Home 
enjoyed  better  health  than  ever  in  his  life  !  In  Rome 
he  became  a  Catholic,  and  good  Pio  Xono  himself 
offered  him  his  crucifix  to  kiss,  with  the  words :  "  That 
is  the  only  true  magic  wand!" — unfortunately  this  was 
not  Home's  view  always:  at  least  we  find  him  in  1864 
in  the  same  city  in  conflict  with  the  papal  police,  who 
ordered  him  to  cease  all  intercourse  "  with  higher  as 
well  as  with  lower  spirits/'  and  finally  compelled  him  to 


68  MODERN   MAGIC. 

leave  the  Eternal  City.  He  then  claimed  publicly, 
what,  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  he  had  consistently 
maintained  from  the  beginning  of  his  marvelous  career, 
that  he  was  the  unwilling  agent  of  higher  powers, 
which  affected  him  at  irregular  times,  independent  of 
his  will,  and  often  contrary  to  his  dearest  wishes.  It 
must  be  added  that  he  gave  the  strongest  proof  of  his 
sincerity  by  never  accepting  from  the  public  pecuniary 
compensation  for  the  exhibition  of  peculiar  powers. 

His  exterior  is  winning;  he  is  of  medium  height, 
light-haired  and  light-complexioned,  of  slender  figure  ; 
simple  and  well-bred  in  his  manners,  and  of  irreproach- 
able morale.  The  highest  circles  of  society  have  always 
been  open  to  him,  and  his  marriage  with  a  daughter  of 
the  Kussian  general  Stroll  has  given  him  wealth  and  an 
agreeable  position  in  the  world.  As  the  spirits  had 
predicted,  they  returned  on  the  10th  of  February,  1857, 
and  announced  themselves  by  repeated  gentle  knock- 
ings — in  other  words,  Home's  former  nervous  disease 
returned,  and  with  it  his  exceptionable  powers.  He 
was  then  in  Paris,  and  soon  excited  the  attention  of 
the  fair  but  superstitious  Empress,  whose  favor  he 
speedily  obtained  by  a  revelation  concerning  the  "  Em- 
pereur  de  1'avenir,"  as  the  spirits  had  the  gallantry  to 
call  her  infant  son.  Napoleon  also  began  to  take  an 
interest  in  the  clever,  talented  man,  whose  special  gifts 
did  not  prevent  him  from  being  a  pliant  courtier  and  a 
cunning  observer.  He  showed  himself  grateful  for  the 
kindness  with  Avhich  Eugenie  provided  for  his  sister's 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  69 

education  by  exerting  his  powers  to  the  utmost  at  the 
Tuileries,  and  by  revealing  to  the  Emperor  the  secrets 
he  had  skillfully  elicited  during  his  spiritual  sessions, 
from  statesmen  and  generals.  At  the  house  of  Prince 
Murat  he  performed,  perhaps,  the  most  surprising  feats 
he  has  ever  accomplished :  seated  quietly  in  his  arm- 
chair, he  caused  tables  to  whirl  around,  the  clocks  in 
two  rooms  to  stand  still  or  to  go  at  will,  all  the  bells  in 
the  house  to  ring  together  or  separately,  and  handker- 
chiefs to  escape  irresistibly  from  the  hands  and  the 
pockets  of  several  persons,  the  Emperor  included.  Then 
the  floor  seemed  to  sink,  all  the  doors  of  the  house 
were  slammed  to  and  opened  again,  the  gaslights  be- 
came extinct,  and  when  they  as  suddenly  blazed  up 
again,  Home  had  disappeared  without  saying  good-bye. 
The  guests  left  the  house  quietly  and  in  a  state  of 
great  and  painful  excitement.  At  another  exhibition 
in  Prince  Napoleon's  house,  a  renowned  juggler  was 
present  by  invitation  to  watch  Home,  but  he  declared, 
soon,  that  there  was  no  jugglery,  such  as  he  knew,  in 
what  he  saw,  and  the  meeting,  during  which  the 
most  startling  phenomena  were  exhibited,  ended  by 
Home's  falling  into  a  state  of  fearful  catalepsy.  Per- 
haps nothing  can  speak  more  clearly  of  the  deep  in- 
terest felt  in  the  modern  magician  by  the  highest  in 
the  land,  than  the  fact  that  more  than  once  private 
sessions  were  held  at  the  Tuileries,  at  which,  besides 
himself,  the  Emperor  and  the  Empress,  only  one  per- 
son was  allowed  to  be  present,  the  Duke  of  Monte- 


70  MODERN    MAGIC. 

bello.  It  is  said,  though  not  by  Home  himself,  that  at 
one  of  these  meetings  the  sad  fate  of  the  Empire  was 
clearly  predicted,  and  even  the  time  of  the  Emperor's 
death  ascertained.  One  achievement  of  modern  magic 
in  which  Home  is  unique,  is  the  raising  of  his  body 
into  the  air;  no  other  person  having  as  yet  even 
attempted  the  same  exploit.  He  is  lifted  up  in  a  hori- 
zontal position,  sometimes  only  to  a  short  distance 
from  the  floor,  but  not  unfreqnently,  also,  nearly  to  the 
ceiling;  on  one  occasion,  in  Bordeaux,  he  remained 
thus  suspended  in  the  sight  of  several  persons  for  five 
minutes.  Another  speciality  of  his,  is  the  lengthening 
of  his  body.  According  to  a  statement  deserving  full 
credit  ("  Human  Nature,"  Dec.  1868),  he  can,  when  in 
a  state  of  trance,  add  four  inches  to  his  stature! 
Finally,  he  has  been  repeatedly  seen  passing  in  the  air 
out  of  one  window  of  the  room  in  which  his  visitors 
were  assembled,  and  returning  through  another  win- 
dow, an  exhibition  which  almost  always  ended  in  the 
complete  exhaustion  and  apparent  illness  of  the  ma- 
gician. 

Home  himself  maintains  that  he  performs  no  mir- 
acles, and  is  not  able  to  cause  the  laws  of  nature  to  be 
suspended  for  a  moment,  but  that  he  is  gifted  with  an 
exceptional  power  to  employ  faculties  which  he  pos- 
sesses in  common  with  all  his  brethren.  In  him  they 
are  active ;  in  the  vast  majority  of  men  they  lie  dor- 
mant, because  man  is  no  longer  conscious  of  the  full 
and  absolute  control  over  Nature,  with  which  he  has 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  71 

been  endowed  by  the  Creator.  He  adds  that  it  is  faith 
alone,  without  the  aid  of  spirits,  which  enables  him  to 
cause  mysterious  lights  to  be  seen,  or  heavy  pieces  of 
furniture  to  move  about  in  the  air,  and  to  produce 
strange  sounds  and  peculiar  visions  in  the  mind  of  his 
friends.  On  the  other  hand,  when  he  is  lifted  up  into 
the  air,  or  enabled  to  read  the  future,  and  to  reveal  what 
absent  persons  are  doing  at  the  moment,  he  professes 
to  act  as  a  willingless  instrument  of  spirits,  having 
neither  the  power  to  provoke  his  ability  to  perform 
these  feats,  nor  to  lay  it  aside  at  will.  Occasionally  he 
professes  to  be  conscious  of  an  electric  current,  which 
he  is  able  to  produce  at  certain  times  and  in  a  certain 
state  of  mind ;  this  emanation  protects  his  body  against 
influences  fatal  to  others,  and  enables  him,  for  instance, 
to  hold  live  coals  in  his  hand,  and  to  thrust  his  whole 
head  into  the  chimney  fire.  This  "  certain  state  of 
mind/'  as  lie  calls  it,  is  simply  a  state  of  trance.  Hence 
the  extremely  variable  nature  of  his  performances,  and 
his  great  reluctance  to  appear  as  a  magician  at  the  re- 
quest of  others.  Xor  is  he  himself  always  quite  sure 
of  his  own  condition;  thus,  in  the  winter  of  18TO,  when 
he  wished  to  exhibit  some  of  the  simplest  phenomena 
in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  savants  in  St.  Peters- 
burg, he  failed  so  completely  in  every  effort,  that  the 
committee  reported  him  virtually,  though  not  in  terms, 
an  impostor.  The  same  happened  to  him  at  a  first 
examination  held  by  Mr.  Crookes,  a  well-known  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry,  in  company  with  Messrs.  Cox  and 


72  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Huggins ;  they  did  not  abandon  their  purpose,  how- 
ever, and  at  the  next  meeting,  when  certain  antipathic 
spectators  were  no  longer  present,  Home  displayed  the 
'most  remarkable  phenomena.  The  committee  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  was  enabled  to  perform  these 
feats  by  means  of  a  new  "psychic  force,"  which  it  was 
all-important  for  men  of  science  to  investigate  thor- 
oughly. 

The  number  of  men  and  women  who  possess  similar 
endowments,  though  generally  in  an  inferior  degree 
only,  is  very  great,  especially  in  the  United  States. 
Only  one  feature  is  common  to  them  all — the  state  of 
trance  in  which  they  are  enabled  to  produce  such  start- 
ling phenomena — in  all  other  respects  they  differ  widely, 
both  as  to  the  nature  of  their  performances  and  as  to 
their  credibility.  For,  from  the  first  appearance  of 
media  in  spiritualistic  circles,  in  fact,  probably  already 
in  the  exhibitions  of  the  Fox  family,  delusion  and 
willful  deception  have  been  mixed  up  with  actual 
magic.  Tables  have  been  moved  by  clever  legerde- 
main; spirit  rappings  have  been  produced  by  cunning 
efforts  of  muscles^ and  sinews;  ventriloquists  have  used 
their  art  to  cause  extraordinary  noises  in  the  air,  and 
Pepper's  famous  ghosts  have  shown  the  facility  with 
which  the  eye  may  be  deceived  and  the  other  .senses  be 
taken  captive.  The  most  successful  deception  was 
practised  by  the  so-called  Davenport  Brothers,  whose 
well-known  exhibitions  excited  universal  interest,  as 
long  as  the  impression  lasted  that  they  were  the  work 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  73 

of  invisible  spirits,  while  they  became  even  more  popu- 
lar and  attractive  when  their  true  nature  had  been  dis- 
covered, on  account  of  the  exquisite  skill  with  which 
these  juggling  tricks  were  performed. 

The  masters  of  physical  science  have  amply  proved 
that  table-moving  is  a  simple  mechanical  art.  Faraday 
and  Babinet  already  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  smallest  muscles  of  the  human  body  can  produce 
great  effects,  when  judiciously  employed,  and  cited, 
among  other  instances,  the  so-called  Electric  Girl, 
exhibited  in  Paris,  who  hurled  a  chair  on  which  she 
had  been  sitting,  by  muscular  power  alone,  to  a  great 
distance.  The  same  feat,  it  is  well-knoAvn,  has  been 
repeatedly  accomplished  by  other  persons  also.  Like 
muscular  eiforts  are  made — no  doubt  often  quite  un- 
consciously— by  persons  whose  will  acts  energetically, 
and  when  several  men  co-operate  the  force  of  vibrations 
produced  in  a  kind  of  rhythmical  tact,  becomes  truly 
astounding.  We  need  only  remember,  that  the  rolling 
of  a  heavily  laden  cart  in  the  streets  may  shake  a  vast, 
well-built  edifice  from  roof  to  cellar,  and  that  the 
regular  tramp  of  a  detachment  of  men  has  more  than 
once  caused  suspension  bridges,  of  great  and  well-tried 
strength,  to  break  and  to  bury  hundreds  of  men  under 
their  ruins.  Thus  a  few  children  and  delicate  women 
alone  can,  by  an  hour's  steady  work  and  undivided  atten- 
tion, move  tables  of  such  weight  that  a  number  of 
strong  men  can  lift  them  only  with  difficulty.  The 
only  really  new  force  which  has  ever  appeared  in  this 


74  MODERN   MAGIC. 

branch  of  modern  magic  is  the  Od  of  Barou  Keichen- 
bach  ;  its  presence  and  efficacy  cannot  be  denied, 
although  the  manner  in  which  it  operates  is  still  a 
mystery.  In  the  summer  of  1861  the  German  baron 
found  himself  in  a  company  of  table-movers  at  the 
house  of  Lord  William  Cowper,  the  son-in-law  of  Lord 
Palmerston.  To  prove  his  faith  he  crept  under  the 
heavy  din  ing-table,  resting  with  his  full  weight  on  one 
of  the  three  solid  feet  and  grasping  the  other  two 
firmly  with  his  hands.  The  wood  began  to  emit  low, 
electric  sounds,  then  came  louder  noises  as  when  furni- 
ture cracks  in  extremely  dry  weather,  and  finally  the 
table  began  to  move.  Beichenbach  did  his  best  to  pre- 
vent the  movement,  but  the  table  rushed  down  the 
room,  dragging  the  unlucky  baron  with  it,  to  the 
intense  amusement  of  all  the  persons  present.  The 
German  savant  maintains  that  this  power,  possessed 
only  by  the  privileged  few  who  are  peculiarly  sensitive, 
emanates  from  the  tips  of  the  fingers,  becomes  luminous 
in  the  dark,  and  acts  like  a  lever  upon  all  obstacles  that 
come  in  its  way.  As  the  existence  of  Od  is  established 
beyond  all  doubt,  and  its  effects  are  admitted  by  all  who 
have  studied  the  subject,  we  are  forced  to  look  upon  it 
as  at  least  one  of  the  mysterious  elements  of  modern 
magic. 

The  Od  is,  as  far  as  we  know,  a  magnetic  force ;  for 
as  soon  as  certain  persons  are  magnetized  they  become 
conscious  of  peculiar  sensations,  heat  or  cold,  headache 
or  other  pains,  and,  if  predisposed,  of  a  startling  increase 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  75 

of  power  in  all  their  senses.  They  see  lights  of  every 
kind,  can  distinguish  even  minute  objects  in  a  dark 
room,  and  behold  beautiful  white  flames  upon  the  poles 
of  magnets.  Reichenbach  obtained,  as  he  believed,  two 
remarkable  results  from  these  first  phenomena.  He 
concluded  that  polar  lights,  aurora  boreales,  etc., 
were  identical  with  the  magnetic  light  of  the  earth,  and 
he  discovered  that  sensitive,  sickly  persons,  who  were 
peculiarly  susceptible  to  magnetic  influences,  ought  to 
lie  with  the  head  to  the  north,  and  the  feet  to  the  south 
in  order  to  obtain  refreshing  sleep.  The  next  step  was 
an  effort  to  identify  the  Od  with  animal  magnetism; 
Eeichenbach  found  that  cataleptic  patients  who  per- 
ceived the  presence  of  magnets  with  exquisite  accuracy, 
and  followed  them  like  mesmerized  persons,  were  affected 
alike  by  his  own  hands  or  those  of  other  perfectly 
sound,  but  strongly  magnetic  men.  He  could  attract 
such  unfortunate  persons  by  his  outstretched  fingers, 
and  force  them  to  follow  him  in  a  state  of  unconscious- 
ness wherever  he  led  them.  According  to  his  theory, 
the  two  sides  of  man  are  of  opposite  electric  nature  and 
a  magnetic  current  passes  continually  from  one  side  to 
the  other;  sensitive  persons  though  blind-folded,  know 
perfectly  well  on  which  side  they  approach  others. 

Gradually  Baron  Reichenbach  extended  the  range  of 
his  experiments,  employing  for  that  purpose,  besides  his 
own  daughter,  especially  a  Miss  Xowotny,  a  sad  sufferer 
from  cataleptic  attacks.  She  was  able  to  distinguish, 
by  the  sensations  which  were  excited  in  her  whole  sys- 


76  MODEEN   MAGIC. 

tern,  more  than  six  hundred  chemicals,  and  arranged 
them,  under  his  guidance,  according  to  their  electro- 
chemical force.  Another  sick  woman,  Miss  Maiss,  felt 
a  cool  wind  whenever  certain  substances  were  brought 
near  her,  and  by  these  and  similar  efforts  in  which  the 
baron  was  aided  by  many  friends,  he  ascertained  the 
fact,  that  there  is  in  nature  a  force  which  passes  through 
all  substances,  the  human  body  included,  and  is  inhe- 
rent in  the  whole  material  world.  This  force  he  calls 
the  Od.  Like  electricity  and  magnetism,  this  Od  is  a 
polar  force,  and  here  also  opposite  poles  attract,  like 
poles  repel  each  other.  The  whole  subject,  although  as 
yet  only  in  its  infancy,  is  well  deserving  of  careful  study 
and  thorough  investigation. 

The  manifestations  of  so-called  spirits  have  naturally 
excited  much  attention,  and  given  rise  to  the  bitterest 
attacks.  In  England,  especially,  the  learned  world  is  all 
on  one  side  and  the  Spiritualists  all  on  the  other ;  nor  do 
they  hesitate  to  say  very  bitter  things  of  each  other. 
The  Saturday  Review,  more  forcibly  than  courteously, 
speaks  of  American  spiritualists  thus :  *•'  If  this  is  the 
spirit  world,  and  if  this  is  spiritual  intelligence,  and  if  all 
the  spirits  can  do,  is  to  whisk  about  in  dark  rooms, 
and  pinch  people's  legs  under  the  table,  and  play '  Home, 
Sweet  Home,'  on  the  accordeon,  and  kiss  folks  in  the 
dark,  and  paint  baby  pictures,  and  write  such  sentimen- 
tal, namby-pamby  as  Mr.  Coleman  copies  out  from  their 
dictation — it  is  much  better  to  be  a  respectable  pig  and 
accept  annihilation  than  to  be  cursed  with  such  an  im- 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  77 

mortality  as  this."  To  which  the  Spiritual  Magazine 
(Jan.,  1862),  does  not  hesitate  to  reply.  "We  shall  not 
eat  breakfast  bacon  for  some  time,  for  fear  of  getting  a 
slice  of  the  editor  of  the  Saturday  Review,  in  his 
self-sought  appropriate  metempsychosis."  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  spiritualists  every- 
where appeal  to  their  own  reason  as  the  highest  tribu- 
nal before  which  such  questions  can  be  decided,  and 
to  the  laws  of  nature,  because  as  they  say,  they  are 
identical  with  the  laws  of  practical  reason.  They 
believe,  as  a  body,  neither  in  angels  nor  in  demons. 
Their  spirits  are  simply  the  purified  souls  of  de- 
parted men.  Protestant  theologians,  who  admit 
of  no  purgatory,  see  in  these  exhibitions  nothing  but 
the  deeds  of  Satan.  Catholic  divines,  on  the  other 
hand,  and  Protestant  mystics,  who,  like  the  German, 
Schubert,  believe  that  there  exist  what  they  curiously 
enough  call  a  "  more  peaceful  infernal  spirit,"  ascribe 
them  to  the  agency  of  evil  spirits.  In  the  great  ma- 
jority of  cases,  however,  the  spirits  have  clearly  shown 
themselves  nothing  else  but  the  product  of  the  media. 
The  latter,  invariably  either  of  diseased  mind  by  na- 
ture or  over-excited  for  the  occasion,  believe  they  see 
and  hear  manifestations  in  the  outer  world,  which  in 
reality  exist  only  in  their  own  consciousness.  A 
Catholic  medium  is  thus  visited  by  spirits  from  heaven 
and  hell,  while  the  Protestant  medium  never  meets 
souls  from  purgatory.  Nothing  has  ever  been  revealed 
concerning  the  future  state  of  man,  that  was  not  al- 


78  MODERN   MAGIC. 

ready  well  known  upon  earth.  Most  diverting  are  the 
jealousies  of  great  spirits,  of  Solomon  and  Socrates, 
Moses  and  Plato — when  the  media  happen  to  be  jeal- 
ous of  each  other !  A  somewhat  satirical  writer  on 
the  subject  explains  even  the  fact  that  spirits  so  often 
contradict  each  other  and  say  yile  things  of  sacred 
subjects,  by  the  inner  wickedness  of  the  media,  which 
comes  to  light  on  such  occasions,  while  they  carefully 
conceal  it  in  ordinary  life !  If  these  spirits  are  really 
the  creations  of  the  inner  magic  life,  of  which  we  are 
just  learning  to  know  the  first  elementary  signs,  then 
the  powers  which  are  hidden  within  us  may  well  ter- 
rify us  as  they  appear  in  such  exhibitions,  while  we 
will  not  be  surprised  at  the  manner  in  which  many  an 
ordinary  mortal  appears  here  as  a  poet  or  a  prophet — 
if  not  as  a  wicked  demon.  Xor  must  it  be  overlooked 
that  our  memory  holds  vast  treasures  of  knowledge  of 
which  we  are  utterly  unconscious  until,  under  certain 
circumstances,  one  or  the  other  fact  suddenly  reappears 
before  our  mind's  eye.  The  very  fact  that  we  can,  by  a 
great  effort  and  continued  appeals  to  our  memory, 
recall  at  last  what  was  apparently  utterly  forgotten, 
proves  the  presence  of  such  knowledge.  A  state  of 
intense  excitement,  of  fever  or  of  trance,  is  peculiarly 
favorable  to  the  recovery  of  such  hidden  treasures,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  a  medium  honestly 
believes  to  receive  a  new  revelation,  when  only  old, 
long  forgotten  facts  return  to  his  consciousness.  Gen- 
erally however,  we  repeat,  nothing  is  in  the  spirit  that 


BLACK   AND    WHITE   MAGIC.  79 

is  not  in  the  medium.  The  American  spiritualist  con- 
jures up  only  his  own  countrymen,  and  occasionally 
some  world-renowned  heroes  like  Napoleon  or  Caesar, 
Shakespeare  or  Schiller,  while  the  cosmopolitan  Ger- 
man receives  visits  from  men  of  all  countries.  Finally 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  according  to  an  old 
proverb,  we  are  ever  ready  to  believe  what  we  wish  to 
see  or  hear,  and  hence  the  amazing  credulity  of  the 
majority  of  spiritualists.  Even  skeptics  are  not  free 
from  the  influence  of  this  tendency.  When  Dr.  Bell, 
the  eminent  physician  of  Somerville,  Mass.,  investi- 
gated these  phenomena  of  modern  magic,  many  years 
ago,  he  promptly  noticed  that  the  spirits  never  gave  in- 
formation which  was  not  already  in  the  possession  of 
one  or  the  other  person  present.  Only  in  a  few  cases 
he  acknowledged  with  his  usual  candor,  and  at  once, 
at  the  meeting  itself,  that  a  true  answer  was  returned. 
But  when  he  examined,  after  his  return  home,  these 
few  exceptional  revelations,  he  discovered  that  he  had 
been  mistaken,  and  that  these  answers  had  been  after 
all  as  illusory  as  the  others. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  therefore,  that  modern  magic, 
as  far  as  it  consists  in  table-moving  and  spirit-rapping, 
with  their  usual  accompaniments,  is  neither  the  work 
of  mechanical  jugglery  exclusively,  nor,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  result  of  revelations  made  by  spirits.  In  the 
mass  of  accumulated  evidence  there  remain  however, 
after  sifting  it  carefully,  many  facts  which  cannot  be 
explained  according  to  the  ordinary  course  of  nature. 


80  MODEEX   MAGIC. 

The  power  which  produces  these  phenomena  must  be 
classified  with  other  well-known  powers  given  to  man 
under  exceptional  circumstances,  such  as  the  safety  of 
somnambulists  in  dangerous  places;  the  cures  per- 
formed by  faith,  and  the  strange  exhibitions  made  by 
diseased  persons,  suffering  of  catalepsy  and  similar 
affections.  If  men,  under  the  influence  of  mesmerism, 
in  a  state  of  ecstatic  fervor,  or  under  the  pressure  of 
strong  and  long-continued  excitement,  show  powers 
which  are  not  possessed  by  man  naturally,  then  modern 
magic  also  may  well  be  admitted  as  one  of  the  means 
by  which  such  extraordinary,  and  as  yet  unexplored 
forces  are  brought  to  light.  All  that  can  be  reasonably 
asked  of  those  who  so  peremptorily  challenge  our  ad- 
miration, and  demand  our  respect  for  the  new  science, 
is  that  it  shall  be  proved  to  be  useful  to  man,  and  this 
proof  is,  as  yet,  altogether  wanting. 

In  Mexico  the  preparation  for  acts  of  magic  seems  to 
have  been  downright  intoxication;  at  least  we  learn 
from  Acosta,  in  his  Hist.  nat.  y  moral  de  los  Indias 
(lv.),  that  the  priests,  before  sacrificing,  inhaled  power- 
ful perfumes,  rubbed  themselves  with  ointments  made 
of  venomous  animals,  tobacco  and  hempseed,  and 
finally  drank  chica  mixed  with  various  drugs.  Thus 
they  reached  a  state  of  exaltation  in  which  they  not 
only  butchered  numbers  of  human  beings  in  cold 
blood,  and  lost  all  fear  of  wild  beasts,  but  were  also 
able  to  reveal  what  Avas  happening  at  a  great  distance, 
or  even  future  events.  We  find  similar  practices,  also, 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  81 

nearer  home.  The  Indians  of  Martha's  Vineyard  had, 
before  they  were  converted,  their  skillful  magicians, 
who  stood  in  league  with  evil  spirits,  and  as  pawaws 
discovered  stolen  things,  injured  men  at  a  distance,  and 
clearly  foretold  the  coming  of  the  whites.  The  pious 
Brainert  gives  us  full  accounts  of  some  of  the  converted 
Delawares,  who,  after  baptism,  felt  the  evil  spirit 
depart  from  them,  and  lost  the  power  of  magic.  One, 
a  great  and  wicked  magician,  deplored  bitterly  his 
former  condition,  when  he  was  a  slave  of  the  evil  one, 
and  became,  in  the  good  missionary's  words :  "  an 
humble,  devout,  hearty,  and  loving  Christian."  It  is 
more  difficult  to  explain  the  magic  of  the  so-called 
Archbishop  Beissel,  the  head  of  the  brotherhood  at 
Ephrata,  in  Pennsylvania,  who,  according  to  contem- 
porary authorities  "  oppressed  by  his  magic  the  father 
and  steward  of  the  convent,  Eckerling,  to  such  a 
degree,  that  he  left  his  brethren  and  sought  refuge  in  a 
hermit's  hut  in  the  forest !  The  spirits  of  departed 
brethren  and  sisters  returned  to  the  refectory  at  this 
bishop's  bidding ;  they  partook  of  bread  and  meat,  and 
even  conversed  with  their  successors.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  Beissel,  abundantly  and  exceptionally  gifted, 
possessed  the  power  to  put  his  unhappy  subordinates, 
already  exhausted  by  asceticism  of  every  kind,  into  a 
state  of  ecstasy,  in  which  they  sincerely  believed  they 
saw  these  spirits,  and  were  subjected  to  magic  influ- 
ences. That  such  power  has  by  no  means  entirely  de- 
parted from  our  continent,  may  be  seen  in  the  atrocities 

4* 


82  MODEKX   MAGIC. 

perpetrated  at  the  command  of  the  negroes'  Obee,  of 
which  well-authenticated  records  abound  in  Florida 
and  Louisiana,  as  well  as  in  Cuba. 

The  Indo-Germanic  race  has  known  and  practised 
black  magic  from  time  immemorial,  and  the  Vendidad 
already  explains  it  as  an  act  which  Ahriman,  the  Evil 
Spirit,  brought  forth  when  overshadowed  by  death.  In 
Egypt  it  flourished  for  ages,  and  has  never  become  en- 
tirely extinct.  Jannes  and  Jambres,  who  led  the  priests 
in  their  opposition  to  Moses  (2.  Tim.  iii.  8),  have  their 
successors  in  our  day,  and  the  very  miracles  performed 
by  these  ancient  charmers  have  been  witnessed  again 
and  again  by  modern  travelers.  Holy  Writ  abounds 
with  instances  of  every  kind  of  magic ;  it  speaks  of 
astrology,  and  prophesying  from  arrows,  from  the  en- 
trails of  animals,  and  from  dreams;  but,  strangely 
enough,  the  charming  of  serpents  and  the  evil  eye  are 
not  mentioned,  if  we  except  Balaam.  The  Kabbalah, 
on  the  contrary,  speaks  more  than  once  of  the  evil  eye 
(ain  hara),  and  all  the  southern  nations  of  Europe,  as 
well  as  the  Slavic  races,  fear  its  weird  power. 

The  eye  is,  however,  by  no  means  employed  only  to 
work  evil ;  by  the  side  of  their  mal  occhio  the  Italians 
have  another  gift,  called  attrativa,  which  enables  man, 
apparently  by  the  force  of  his  eye  only,  to  draw  to 
himself  all  whom  he  wishes  to  attract.  The  well-known 
Saint  Filippo  Neri  thus  not  only  won  all  whom  he 
wished  to  gain  over,  by  looking  at  them,  but  even  dogs 
left  their  beloved  masters  and  followed  him  everywhere. 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  83 

Cotton  Mather  tells  us  in  his  "Magnolia"  that  quakers 
frequently  by  the  eye  only — though  often,  also,  by 
anointing  or  breathing  upon  them — compelled  others 
to  accompany  them,  to  join  their  communion,  and  to 
be  in  all  things  obedient  to  their  bidding.  Tom  Case, 
himself  a  quaker,  certainly  possessed  the  power  of  over- 
whelming those  at  whom  he  looked  fixedly  for  a  while, 
to  such  a  degree  that  they  fell  down  as  if  struck  with 
epilepsy ;  once,  at  least,  he  turned  even  a  mad  bull,  by 
the  force  of  his  eye,  till  it  approached  him  humbly  and 
licked  his  hand  like  a  pet  dog.  Even  in  our  own  age 
Gofe'the  has  admitted  the  power  of  certain  men  to 
attract  others  by  the  strength  of  their  will,  and  men- 
tions an  instance  in  which  he  himself,  ardently  wishing 
to  see  his  beloved  one,  forced  her  unconsciously  to  come 
and  meet  him  halfway.  (Eckermaun,  iii.  201.) 

It  avails  nothing  to  stigmatize  a  faith  so  deeply  rooted 
and  so  universal  as  mere  superstition.  Among  the  mass 
of  errors  which  in  the  course  of  ages  have  accumulated 
around  the  creed,  the  little  grain  of  truth,  the  indubi- 
table power  of  man's  mind  to  act  through  the  eye,  ought 
not  to  be  overlooked. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  magic  known  as  such  to  the 
two  great  nations  of  antiquity.  If  the  Greeks  saw  in 
Plato  the  son  of  Apollo,  who  came  to  his  mother 
Perictione  in  the  shape  of  a  serpent,  and  in  Alexander 
the  Great  the  son  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  they  probably 
intended  merely  to  pay  the  same  compliment  to  their 
countrymen  which  modern  nations  convey  by  culling 


84  MODERN    MAGIC. 

their  rulers  Kings  and  Kaisers  "  by  the  Grace  of  God." 
But  the  consistency  with  which  higher  beings  came  to 
visit  earth-born  man  in  the  shape  of  favored  animals, 
is  more  than  an  accident.  The  sons  of  God  came  to 
see  the  daughters  of  men,  though  it  is  not  said  in  what 
form  they  appeared,  and  the  suggestion  that  they  were 
the  "  giants  upon  the  earth,"  mentioned  in  Holy  Writ, 
is  not  supported ;  but  exactly  as  the  gods  came  from 
Olympus  in  the  shape  of  bulls  and  rams,  so  the  evil 
spirits  of  the  Middle  Ages  appeared  in  the  shape  of 
rams  and  cats.  A  curious  instance  of  the  mixture  of 
truth  and  falsehood  appears  in  this  connection.  It  is 
well-known  that  the  Italians  of  the  South  look  upon 
Virgil  as  one  of  the  greatest  magicians  that  ever  lived, 
and  ascribe  to  his  tomb  even  now  supernatural  power. 
The  poet  himself  had,  of  course,  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  magic ;  but  his  reputation  as  a  magician  arose 
from  the  fact  that,  next  to  the  Bible,  his  verses  became, 
at  an  early  period,  a  favorite  means  of  consulting  the 
future.  Sortes  VirgiUana,  the  lines  which  upon 
accidentally  opening  the  volume  first  met  the  eye,  were 
a  leading  feature  of  the  art  known  as  stichomania. 

The  story  of  the  greatest  magician  mentioned  in  the 
New  Testament  has  been  thoroughly  examined,  and  the 
main  features,  at  least,  are  well  established.  Simon 
Magus  was  a  magician  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
ancients  used  that  term;  but  he  possessed  evidently, 
in  addition,  all  the  powers  claimed  by  better  spiritual- 
ists, like  Home  in  our  day.  A  native  of  Gitton,  a  small 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  85 

village  of  Samaria,  he  had  early  manifested  superior 
intellectual  gifts,  accompanied  by  an  almost  marvelous 
control  over  the  minds  of  others.  By  the  aid  of  the 
former  he  produced  a  lofty  gnostic  system,  which  crum- 
bled, however,  to  pieces  as  soon  as  it  came  into  contact 
with  the  inspired  system  of  Christianity.  His  influence 
over  others  led  him,  in  the  arrogance  which  is  inherent 
to  natural  man,  to  consider  himself  as  the  Great  Divine 
Power,  which  appeared  in  different  forms  as  Father, 
Son,  and  Spirit.  He  professed  to  be  able  to  make  him- 
self invisible  and  to  pass,  unimpeded,  through  solid 
substances — precisely  as  was  done  in  later  ages  by  Saint 
Dominic  and  other  saints  (Goerres.  Mystic,  ii.  576) — 
to  oind  and  to  loosen  others  as  Avell  as  himself  at  will ; 
to  open  prison  doors  and  to  cause  trees  to  grow  out  of 
the  bare  ground.  Before  utterly  rejecting  his  preten- 
sions as  mere  lies  and  tricks,  we  must  bear  in  mind  two 
facts:  first,  that  modern  jugglers  in  India  perform 
these  very  tricks  in  a  manner  as  yet  unexplained,  and 
secondly,  that  he,  in  all  probability,  possessed  merely 
the  power  of  exciting  others  to  a  high  state  of  exalta- 
tion, in  which  they  candidly  believed  they  saw  all  these 
things.  At  all  events,  his  magic  deeds  were  identical 
with  the  miracles  of  later  saints,  and  as  these  are 
enthroned  in  shrine  and  statue  in  Rome,  so  the  Eternal 
City  erected  to  Simon  Magus,  also,  a  statue,  and  pro- 
claimed him  a  god  in  the  days  of  Claudius!  Another 
celebrated  magician  of  the  same  race,  was  Sedechias 
(Goerres.  Mystic,  iv.  ii.  71),  who  lived  in  the  days  of 


86  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Saint  Louis,  and  who,  once,  in  order  to  convince  the 
skeptics  of  his  day  of  the  real  existence  of  spirits,  such 
as  the  Kabbalah  admits,  ordered  them  to  appear  in 
human  form  before  the  eyes  of  the  monarch.  Instantly 
the  whole  plain  around  the  king's  tent  was  alive  with 
a  vast  army;  long  rows  of  bright-colored  tents  dotted 
the  lowlands,  and  on  the  slopes  around  were  encamped 
countless  troops;  whilst  mounted  squadrons  appeared 
in  the  air,  performing  marvelous  evolutions.  This  was 
probably  the  first  instance  of  those  airy  hosts,  which 
have  ever  since  been  seen  in  various  countries. 

The  Christian  era  gave  to  magic  phenomena  a  new 
and  specific  character ;  what  was  a  miracle  in  apostolic 
times  remained  in  the  eyes  of  the  multitude  a  miracle 
to  our  day,  when  performed  by  saints  of  the  church 
— it  became  a  crime  and  an  abomination  when  the 
authors  were  laymen,  and  yet  both  differed  in  no  single 
feature.  The  most  remarkable  representative  of  this 
dual  nature  of  supernatural  performances  is,  no  doubt, 
Dr.  Faust,  whom  the  great  and  pious  Melanchthon 
states  to  have  well  known  as  a  native  of  the  little  vil- 
lage of  Knittlingen,  near  his  own  birth-place,  and  as  a 
man  of  dissolute  habits,  whom  the  Devil  carried  off  in 
person.  His  motto,  which  has  been  discovered  under  a 
portrait  of  his  (Hauber's  "  Bibl.  Mag."),  was  characteris- 
tic of  his  faith :  Omne  bonum  et  perfection  a  Deo,  imper- 
fection a  diabolo.  His  vast  learning,  his  great  power 
over  the  elements,  and  the  popular  story  of  his  pact 
with  the  Evil  One,  made  him  a  hero  among  the  Ger- 


BLACK    AXD    WHITE    MAGIC.  87 

mans,  of  whose  national  tendencies  he  was  then  the 
typical  representative.  Unfortunately,  however,  nearly 
every  Christian  land  has  had  its  own  'Faust ;  such  was, 
for  instance,  in  Spain  the  famous  Dr.  Toralba,  who 
lived  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  by  the  aid  of  a 
servile  demon  read  the  future,  healed  the  sick,  traveled 
through  the  air,  and  even  when  he  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Inquisition,  obtained  his  release  through  the 
Great  Admiral  of  Castile.  Gilles  de  Laval,  who  was 
publicly  burnt  in  1440,  and  Lady  Fowlis,  of  Scotland, 
are  parallel  cases. 

One  of  the  most  absurd  ceremonies  belonging  to 
black  magic,  was  the  well-known  Taigheirm,  of  the 
Scotch  Highlands,  a  demoniac  sacrifice  evidently  hand- 
ed down  from  pagan  times.  The  so-called  magician 
procured  a  large  number  of  black  cats,  and  devoted 
them,  with  solemn  incantations,  and  while  burning 
offensive  incense  of  various  kinds,  to  the  evil  spirits. 
Then  the  poor  victims  were  spitted  and  slowly  roasted 
over  a  fire  of  coals,  one  after  the  other,  but  so  that  not 
a  second's  pause  occurred  between  the  death  of  one  and 
the  sufferings  of  the  next.  This  horridly  absurd  sacri- 
fice had  to  be  continued  for  three  days  and  nights, 
during  which  the  magician  was  not  allowed  to  take 
any  food  or  drink.  The  consequence  was,  that  if  he 
did  not  drop  down  exhausted  and  perish  miserably,  he 
became  fearfully  excited,  and  finally  saw  demons  in  the 
shape  of  black  cats  who  granted  him  all  he  desired 
("  Horst.  Deuteroscopia,"  ii.  184).  It  need  hardly  be 


88  MODERN    MAGIC. 

added  that  in  the  state  of  clairvoyance  which  he  had 
reached,  he  only  asked  for  what  he  well  knew  was 
going  to  happen,  and  that  all  the  fearful  visions  of 
hellish  spirits  existed  only  in  his  overwrought  imagina- 
tion. But  it  will  surprise  many  to  learn  that  such 
"  taigheirms  "  were  held  as  late  as  the  last  century,  and 
that  a  place  is  still  shown  on  the  island  of  Mull,  where 
Allan  Maclean  with  his  assistant,  Lachlain  Maclean, 
sacrificed  black  cats  for  four  days  and  nights  in  succes- 
sion. The  elder  of  the  two  passed  for  a  kind  of  high- 
priest  and  chief  magician  with  the  superstitious  island- 
ers ;  the  other  was  a  young  unmarried  man  of  fine 
appearance,  and  more  than  ordinary  intelligence.  Both 
survived  the  fearful  ceremony,  but  sank  utterly  ex- 
hausted to  the  ground,  unable  to  obtain  the  revelation 
which  they  had  expected ;  nevertheless  they  retained 
the  gift  of  second  sight  for  their  lives. 

It  must  not  be  imagined,  finally,  that  the  summon- 
ing of  spirits  is  a  lost  art ;  even  in  our  day  men  are 
found  who  are  willing  to  call  the  departed  from  their 
resting-place,  and  to  exhibit  them  to  the  eyes  of  living 
men.  The  best  explanation  of  this  branch  of  magic 
was  once  given  by  a  learned  professor,  Avhorn  the  Prince 
Ek-ctor  of  Brandenburg,  Frederick  II.,  sent  for  from 
Halle,  in  order  to  learn  from  him  how  spirits  could  be 
summoned.  The  savant  declared  that  nothing  was 
easier,  and  supported  his  assertion  by  a  number  of 
actual  performances.  First  the  spectator  was  prepared 
by  strong  beverages,  such  as  the  Egyptian  sorcerers 


BLACK    AXI>    WHITE    MAGIC.  89 

already  used  to  employ  on  similar  occasions,  and  by  the 
burning  of  incense.  Soon  he  fell  into  a  kind  of  half- 
sleep,  in  which  he  could  still  understand  what  was  said, 
but  no  longer  reflect  upon  the  sense  of  the  words ; 
gradually  his  brain  became  so  disturbed,  and  his  im- 
agination so  highly  excited,  that  he  pictured  to  himself 
images  corresponding  to  the  words  which  he  heard,  and 
called  them  up  before  his  mind's  eye  as  realities.  The 
magician,  protected  against  the  effects  of  the  incense  by 
a  sponge  filled  with  an  alcoholic  mixture,  then  began 
to  converse  with  his  visitor,  and  tried  to  learn  from 
him  all  he  could  concerning  the  person  the  latter 
wished  to  see,  his  shape,  his  clothes,  etc.  Finally  the 
victim  was  conducted  into  a  dark  room,  where  he  was 
suddenly  asked  by  a  stern,  imperious  voice :  "  Do  you 
not  see  that  woman  in  white  ?  "  (or  whatever  the  person 
might  be.)  and  at  once  his  over-excited  imagination  led 
him  to  think  that  he  really  beheld  what  he  expected  or 
wished  to  see.  This  was  allowed  to  go  on  till  he  sank 
down  exhausted,  or  actually  fainted  away.  When  he 
recovered  his  consciousness,  he  naturally  recollected 
but  imperfectly  what  he  had  seen  while  in  a  state  of 
great  excitement,  and  his  memory,  impaired  by  the 
intermediate  utter  exhaustion  and  fainting,  failed  to 
recall  the  small  errors  or  minute  inaccuracies  of  his 
vision.  All  that  was  left  of  the  whole  proceeding  was 
a  terrifying  impression  on  his  mind  that  he  had  really 
seen  the  spirits  of  departed  friends. 

Such  skillful  manoauvres  were  more  than  once  em- 


90  MODERN    MAGIC. 

ployed  for  sinister  purposes.  Thus  it  is  a  well-known 
historical  fact  that  the  men  who  obtained  control  over 
King  Frederick  William  II.,  after  his  ascension  to  the 
throne,  and  held  it  for  a  time  by  the  visions  which 
they  showed  him,  employed  means  like  these  to  sum- 
mon the  spirits  he  wished  to  see.  The  master  in  this 
branch  of  black  magic  was  undoubtedly  Joseph  Bal- 
samo,  the  Count  Cagliostro  of  French  history.  He 
was  neither  a  magician  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
nor  even  a  religious  enthusiast,  but  merely  an  accom- 
plished juggler  and  swindler,  who  had  acquired,  by 
natural  endowment,  patient  study,  and  consummate 
art,  a  great  power  over  the  minds  of  others.  He 
played  upon  the  imagination  of  men  as  upon  a  famil- 
iar instrument,  and  the  greatest  philosophers  were  as 
easily  victimized  by  him  as  the  most  clear-sighted  wo- 
men, in  spite  of  the  natural  instinct  which  generally 
protects  the  latter  against  such  imposition.  His 
secret — as  far  as  the  summoning  of  the  spirits  of  the 
departed  is  concerned — has  died  with  him,  but  that 
enlightened,  conscientious  men  candidly  believed  they 
had  been  shown  disembodied  spirits,  is  too  well  estab- 
lished by  memories  of  French  and  Dutch  writers  to  be 
doubted.  In  the  meetings  of  his  "  lodges  of  Egyptian 
Freemasons  "  he,  as  Grand  Cophtha,  or  those  whom  he 
had  qualified  by  breathing  upon  them,  employed  a  boy 
or  a  girl,  frequently  called  up  at  haphazard  from  the 
street,  but  at  other  times  carefully  prepared  for  the 
purpose,  to  look  into  the  hand  or  a  basin  of  water. 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  91 

The  poor  child  was,  however,  first  made  half-uncon- 
scious, being  anointed  with  the  "  oil  of  wisdom,"  no 
doubt  an  intoxicating  compound,  and  after  numerous 
ceremonies,  carried  into  a  recess  called  the  Tabernacle, 
and  ordered  to  look  into  the  hand  or  a  basin  of  water. 
After  the  assembly  had  prayed  for  some  time,  the 
"  Dove,"  as  they  called  the  child,  was  asked  what  he 
saw.  Ordinarily  he  beheld  first  an  angel  or  a  priest — 
probably  the  image  of  Cagliostro  himself  in  his  sacer- 
dotal robes — but  frequently  also  monkeys,  the  offspring 
of  a  skeptical  imagination.  Then  followed  more  or 
less  interesting  revelations,  some  utterly  absurd,  others 
of  real  interest,  and  at  times  actual  predictions  of 
future  events.  Cagliostro  himself,  during  his  last  trial 
before  the  Inquisition  of  Rome,  while  readily  confess- 
ing a  large  number  of  impostures,  stoutly  maintained 
the  genuineness  of  these  communications  and  insisted 
that  they  were  the  effects  of  a  special  power  granted 
by  God.  His  assertion  has  some  value,  as  the  shrewd 
man  knew  very  well  how  much  more  he  was  likely  to 
gain  by  a  prompt  avowal  than  by  such  a  denial;  his 
wife.  also,  although  his  accomplice  in  former  years,  and 
now  by  no  means  disposed  to  spare  her  quasi-husband, 
always  stated  that  this  was  a  true  mystery  which  she 
had  never  been  able  to  fathom.  If  we  add  to  these 
considerations  the  fact  that  numerous  masters  of 
lodges,  even  in  Holland  and  England,  obtained  the 
same  results,  and  that  they  cannot  all  have  been  impos- 
tors or  deluded  victims,  there  remains  enough  in  these 


92  MODERN    MAGIC. 

well-established  phenomena  to  ascribe  them  to  a  mys- 
terious, magic  power.  (Compendia  della  vita,  etc,  di  G. 
Bahama,  Roma,  1791.)  It  is  in  fact  quite  evident  that 
the  unfortunate  juggler  possessed  in  a  very  rare  degree 
a  power  akin  to  that  practised  by  a  Mesmer,  a  Home, 
and  other  men  of  that  class,  without  having  the  sense 
to  understand  its  true  nature  or  the  ambition  to  em- 
ploy it  for  other  than  the  lowest  selfish  purposes. 
Trials  of  magicians,  who  have  conjured  up  the  dead 
and  compelled  them  to  reveal  the  future,  are  still  tak- 
ing place  every  now  and  then  ;  in  the  year  1850  not 
less  than  four  men,  together  with  their  associates,  were 
accused  of  this  crime  in  enlightened  Germany,  and  the 
proceedings  in  one  case,  which  occurred  in  Munich, 
created  no  small  sensation. 

Black  magic,  therefore,  must  also  be  looked  upon  as 
by  no  means  a  mere  illusion,  much  less  as  the  work  of 
evil  spirits.  The  results  it  obtains  at  times  are  the 
work  of  man  himself,  and  exist  only  within  his  own 
conscience.  But  if  man  can  produce  such  marvelous 
effects,  which  lie  apparently  beyond  the  range  of  the 
material  world,  how  much  more  must  the  Creator  and 
Preserver  of  all  things  be  able  to  call  forth  events 
which  transcend — to  our  mind— the  limits  of  the  tan- 
gible world.  Such  occurrences,  when  they  have  a 
higher  moral  or  religious  purpose  in  view,  we  call  Mir- 
acles, and  they  remain  incomprehensible  for  all  whose 
knowledge  is  confined  to  the  physical  world.  Above 
the  laws  of  nature  there  rules  the  Divine  "Will,  which 


BLACK    AND    WHITE    MAGIC.  93 

can  do  what  Nature  cannot  do,  and  which  we  can  only 
begin  to  understand  when  we  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that 
by  the  side  of  the  visible  order  of  the  world  or  above 
it,  there  exist  spiritual  laws  as  well  as  spiritual  beings. 
In  a  miracle,  powers  are  rendered  active  which  ordina- 
rily remain  inactive,  but  which  exist  none  the  less  per- 
manently in  the  world.  Hence  all  great  thinkers  have 
readily  admitted  the  existence  of  miracles :  a  Locke 
and  a  Leibnitz  as  well  as,  more  recently,  a  Stahl  and  a 
Schopenhauer.  Locke,  in  his  "  Discourse  of  Miracles," 
goes  so  far  as  to  call  them  the  very  credentials  of  a 
messenger  sent  from  God,  and  asserts  that  Moses  and 
Christ  have  alike  authenticated  the  truth  and  the 
divine  character  of  their  revelations  by  miracles.  Even 
their  possible  continuance  is  believed  in  by  those  who 
hope  that  men  will  ever  continue  among  us  who  "  have 
tasted  the  good  word  of  God  and  the  powers  of  the 
world  to  come"  (Hebrews  vi.  5.) 


m. 
DREAMS. 

"  To  sleep — percliance  to  dream." — HAMLET. 

OF  the  two  parts  of  our  being,  one,  spiritual  and 
heayen-born,  is  always  active,  the  other,  the  bodily, 
earth-born  part,  requires  frequent  and  regular  rest  in 
sleep.  During  this  time  of  repose,  however,  the  mind 
also  ceases  apparently  its  operations,  merely,  however, 
because  it  has  no  longer  servants  at  its  command,  who 
are  willing  and  able  to  give  expression  to  its  activity. 
When  the  senses  are  asleep  the  mind  is  deprived  of  the 
usual  means  of  communication  with  the  outer  world ; 
but  this  does  not  necessarily  condemn  it  to  inaction. 
On  the  contrary,  it  has  often  been  maintained  that  the 
mind  is  most  active  and  capable  of  the  highest 
achievements  when  released  from  its  usual  bondage  to 
the  senses.  Already  ^schylus  in  his  "Eunienides" 


The  mind  of  sleepers  acts  more  cunningly ; 
The  glare  of  day  conceals  the  fate  of  men. 

It  seems,  however,  as  if  the  intermediate  state  between 
the  full  activity  of  wakeful  life  and  the  complete  repose 
of  the  senses  in  sound  sleep,  is  most  favorable  to  the 
development  of  such  magic  phenomena  as  occur  in 


DREAMS.  95 

dreams.  The  fact  that  the  susceptibility  of  the  mind 
is  at  that  time  peculiarly  great  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  statement  recorded  in  Holy  Writ,  that  God 
frequently  revealed  His  will  to  men  in  dreams.  If  we 
admit  the  antiquity  of  the  book  of  Job,  we  see  there 
the  earliest  known  announcement  of  this  connection. 
"  In  a  dream,  in  a  vision  of  the  night,  when  deep  sleep 
falleth  upon  men,  in  slumberings  upon  the  bed;  then 
He  openeth  the  ears  of  men  and  sealeth  their  instruc- 
tion "  (xxxiii.  15).  Next  we  are  told  that  "  God  came  to 
Abimelech  in  a  dream  by  night"  (Gen.  xx.  3),  and  from 
that  time  we  hear  of  similar  revelations  made  by  night 
in  dreams  throughout  the  whole  history  of  the  chosen 
people.  Frequently,  however,  the  dreams  are  called 
visions.  Thus  Balaam  prophesied:  "He  hath  said, 
which  heard  the  words  of  God  and  knew  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Most  High,  which  saw  the  vision  of  the 
Almighty,  falling  into  a  trance,  but  having  his  eyes 
open."  Daniel  had  his  secret  "revealed  in  a  night 
vision,"  but  such  favor  was  denied  to  Saul,  for  "  the 
Lord  answered  him  not,  neither  by  dream  nor  by 
Urim,  nor  by  prophets."  To  Solomon,  on  the  contrary, 
"the  Lord  appeared  in  a  dream  by  night"  many  times; 
Joel  was  promised  that  "  old  men  should  dream  dreams 
and  young  men  shall  see  visions,"  a  pledge  quoted  by 
St.  Peter  as  having  been  amply  fulfilled  in  his  day  (Acts 
ii.  17).  Tor  dreams  did  not  lose  their  importance  at 
the  coming  of  Christ.  To  his  reputed  father  "the 
Angel  of  the  Lord  appeared  in  a  dream,"  bidding  him 


96  MODERN    MAGIC. 

to  take  Mary  to  his  wife ;  again  he  was  warned  in  a 
dream  "not  to  return  to  Herod,"  and  the  Lord  spake 
"  to  Paul  in  the  night  by  a  vision  "  more  than  once, 
as  he  was  by  a  dream  also  sent  to  Macedonia. 

What  in  these  and  similar  cases  is  accepted  as  divine 
inspiration,  is  in  secular  history  generally  looked  upon 
as  mysterious,  magic  revelation;  but  the  phenomena 
remain  the  same  in  all  instances,  and  those  appearing 
in  dreams  are  identical  with  the  symptoms  exhibited  in 
revelations  occurring  during  the  day,  when  the  favored 
recipient  is  wide  awake.  Clairvoyance  by  night  differs 
in  no  way  from  clairvoyance  during  the  day ;  a  state  of 
ecstasy,  a  trance,  is  necessary  in  either  case.  That 
prophetic  dreams  generally  remain  unknown — outside 
of  Holy  "Writ — must  be  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  they 
leave  no  recollection  behind,  unless  they  are  continued 
into  a  state  of  half-sleep,  from  which  a  sudden  awaken- 
ing takes  place ;  and  soon  then  they  are  invariably 
clothed  in  some  allegoric  form,  and  become  liable  to  be 
erroneously  or,  at  least,  imperfectly  interpreted.  Thus 
dreams,  like  trances,  often  prefigure  death  under  the 
form  of  a  journey,  and  represent  the  dying  man  as  au 
uprooted  tree,  a  withered  flower,  or  a  drowning  swim- 
mer. The  early  Christians,  foreseeing  martyrdom,  very 
frequently  received  in  dreams  an  intimation  of  their 
impending  fate  under  such  symbolic  forms,  and,  what 
was  quite  peculiar  to  their  visions  was  that  they  often 
extended  to  the  pagan  jailors  and  keepers,  whose  minds 
had  been  excited  by  witnessing  the  sufferings  and  the 


DEEAMS.  97 

constancy  of  their  victims,  and  who,  in  many  cases, 
became,  in  consequence  of  these  dreams,  converts  to  the 
new  faith.  The  facility,  however,  Avith  which  such 
symbols  can  be  misunderstood,  has  been  as  fatal  to 
dreams  in  the  estimation  of  most  men,  as  the  inaccurate 
manner  in  which  the  real  revelation  is  often  presented 
to  the  still  half-sleeping  mind.  Hence  the  popular 
belief  that  dreams  "  go  by  contraries,"  as  vulgar  slang 
expresses  it.  This  faith  is  based  upon  the  well-estab- 
lished fact  that  a  genuine  dream,  in  the  act  of  impress- 
ing itself  upon  memory,  often  suffers  not  only 
mutilation  but  actual  reversion.  Thus  Kogers  saw,  in 
a  dream,  Hikey,  a  small,  weak  man,  murder  a  powerful 
giant,  Caulfield — in  the  actual  encounter,  which  he  had 
really  foreseen,  the  latter  killed  his  puny  antagonist. 
It  is,  therefore,  as  dangerous  to  "  believe  in  dreams,"  as 
to  deny  their  value  altogether  and  to  ascribe  all  realiza- 
tions of  dreams,  with  Macnish,  to  mere  accident. 
("  Sleep,"  p.  81.)  Men  of  cool  judgment  and  clear  mind 
have  at  all  times  been  found  on  the  side  of  believers, 
and  even  our  great  Franklin,  with  his  eminently  practi- 
cal mind  and  well-known  aversion  to  every  kind  of 
superstition,  firmly  trusted  in  views  which  he  believed 
to  have  come  to  him  in  dreams. 

Antiquity  believed  in  dreams,  not  only  as  means  by 
which  the  Gods  revealed  their  will,  but  as  special  favors 
accorded  to  fortunate  men.  Thus  we  are  told  that  once 
two  men  were  traveling  together  from  Arcadia  to 
Megara ;  when  they  reached  the  city,  one  of  the  two 


98  MODERN   MAGIC. 

remained  at  an  inn,  .while  the  other  went  to  stay  with  a 
a  friend.  Both,  wearied  by  the  journey,  retired  to 
rest;  but  the  traveler  who  was  at  a  private  house 
dreamt  in  the  night  that  his  friend  urged  him  to  come 
to  his  assistance,  as  the  innkeeper  was  about  to  murder 
him.  Terrified  by  the  vivid  dream,  he  jumped  up ;  but, 
upon  reflection,  he  concluded  that  the  whole  was  but  an 
idle  fancy,  and  lay  down  again.  Thereupon  the  dream 
was  repeated ;  but  this  time  his  friend  added,  that  it 
was  too  late  to  come  to  his  aid  now,  as  he  had  been 
murdered,  and  his  body  would  in  the  morning  be 
carried  out  of  the  city,  concealed  under  a  load  of 
manure.  This  second  dream  made  such  an  impression 
upon  the  Arcadian  that  he  went  at  an  early  hour  to  the 
city  gate,  and  to  his  amazement  soon  saw  a  wagon 
loaded  with  manure  approaching  the  place  where  he 
stood.  He  stopped  the  driver  and  asked  him  what  he 
had  hidden  in  his  wagon  ?  The  man  fled,  trembling  ; 
the  body  of  the  murdered  friend  was  found,  and  the 
treacherous  innkeeper  paid  with  his  life  for  his  crime. 
(Cicero,  De  divin.} 

One  of  the  oldest  of  well-authenticated  dreams  in 
Christian  times,  revealed  to  St.  Basil  the  death  of 
Julian  the  Apostate.  It  seemed  to  him  in  his  sleep 
that  he  saw  the  martyr  Mercurius  receive  from  God 
the  order  to  kill  the  tyrant,  and  after  a  short  time 
return  and  say:  "0  Lord,  Julian  is  killed  as  Thou 
hast  commanded!  "  The  saint  was  so  firmly  convinced 
of  having  received  a  direct  revelation  from  heaven, 


DBEAMS.  99 

that  he  immediately  made  the  news  known  to  the 
people,  and  thus  gained  new  honor  when  the  official 
information  at  last  arrived.  ( Vita  S.  Basil,  etc.,  p.  692.) 
Here,  also,  the  deep-seated  hatred  of  the  Christian 
priest  against  the  Emperor,  who  dared  to  renew  the 
worship  of  the  ancient  gods  of  the  Pagans,  no  doubt 
suggested  the  vivid  dream,  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  transmission  of  the  actual  revelation  was  so  im- 
perfect as  to  change  the  real  occurrence — Julian's 
death  by  a  Persian  lance — according  to  the  familiar 
way  of  thinking  of  St.  Basil,  into  his  execution  at 
divine  command  by  a  holy  martyr.  There  is  no  lack 
of  renowned  men  of  all  ages  who  have  had  their  re- 
markable dreams,  and  who  have,  fortunately  for  future 
investigation,  recorded  them  carefully.  Thus  Me- 
lanchthon  tells  us  that  he  was  at  a  convent  with  a 
certain  Dr.  Jonas,  when  letters  reached  him  requesting 
him  to  convey  to  his  friend  the  sad  news  of  his 
daughter's  sudden  death.  The  great  reformer  was  at  a 
loss  how  to  discharge  the  painful  duty,  and  driven  by 
an  instinctive  impulse,  asked  Dr.  Jonas  whether  he 
had  ever  had  any  remarkable  dreams.  The  latter  re- 
plied that  he  had  dreamt,  during  the  preceding  night, 
of  his  return  home,  and  of  the  joyful  welcome  he  had 
met  from  all  his  family,  except  his  oldest  daughter, 
who  had  not  appeared.  Thereupon  Melanchthon  told 
him  that  his  dream  had  been  true,  and  that  he  would 
never  see  his  daughter  again,  as  she  had  been  sum- 
moned to  her  eternal  home.  Petrarch  had  a  dream 


100  MODERN   MAGIC. 

which  was  evidently  also  the  reflex  of  his  thoughts  in 
the  day-time,  but  accompanied  by  a  direct  revelation. 
He  had  been,  for  some  days,  very  anxious  about  the 
health  of  his  patron,  a  Colon  na,  who  was  Bishop  of 
Lombez,  and  one  night  saw  himself  in  a  dream  walking 
by  his  friend's  side,  but  unable  to  keep  pace  with  him  ; 
the  bishop  walked  faster  and  faster,  bidding  him  stay 
behind,  and  when  the  poet  insisted  upon  following 
him,  he  suddenly  assumed  a  death-like  appearance,  and 
said,  "No,  I  will  not  have  you  go  with  me  now!" 
During  the  same  night  in  which  Petrarch  had  this 
dream  in  Parma,  the  bishop  died  at  his  palace  in 
Lombez.  The  well-known  Thomas  Wotton,  also, 
dreamt  a  short  time  before  his  death,  while  residing 
in  Kent,  that  he  saw  five  persons  commit  a  robbery  at 
Oxford.  On  the  following  day  he  added  a  postscript  to 
a  letter  which  he  had  written  to  his  son  Henry,  then  a 
student  at  that  university,  in  which  he  mentioned  his 
dream,  and  asked  if  such  a  robbery  had  really  taken 
place.  The  letter  reached  the  young  man  on  the  morn- 
ing after  the  crime  had  been  committed,  when  town 
and  university  were  alike  in  a  state  of  intense  excite- 
ment. He  made  the  letter  immediately  known  to  the 
authorities,  who  found  in  the  account  of  the  dream  so 
accurate  a  description  of  the  robbers,  that  they  were 
enabled  at  once  to  ascertain  who  were  the  guilty  per- 
sons, and  to  have  them  arrested  before  they  could 
escape.  (Beaumont,  p.  223.)  The  great  German  poet 
Gustav  Schwab  received  the  first  intimation  of  the 


DREAMS.  101 

French  Eevolution  in  1848  through  a  remarkable 
dream  which  his  daughter  had  in  the  night  preceding 
the  24th  of  February.  She  had  been  attacked  by  a 
malignant  fever,  and  was  very  restless  and  nervously 
excited;  during  that  night  she  saw,  in  her  feverish 
dreams,  the  streets  of  Paris  filled  with  excited  crowds, 
and  was  forced  to  witness  the  most  fearful  scenes. 
When  her  father  came  to  her  bedside  next  morning, 
she  gave  him  a  minute  description  of  the  building  of 
barricades,  the  bloody  encounters  between  the  troops 
and  the  citizens,  and  of  a  number  of  sad  tragedies 
which  she  had  seen  enacted  in  the  narrow  and  dark 
streets  of  the  great  city.  The  father,  though  deeply 
impressed  by  the  vivid  character  of  the  dream,  as- 
cribed it  to  a  reminiscence  of  the  scenes  enacted  during 
the  Revolution  of  1789,  and  dismissed  the  subject, 
although  his  child  insisted  upon  the  thoroughly  mod- 
ern character  of  the  buildings,  and  the  costumes  and 
manners  of  all  she  had  seen.  Great  was,  therefore,  the 
amazement  of  the  poet  and  of  all  Avho  had  heard  of  the 
dream,  when,  several  days  afterwards,  the  first  news 
reached  them  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Orleans  family, 
and  much  greater  still  when  the  papers  brought,  one 
by  one,  descriptions  of  the  scenes  which  the  feverish 
dream  had  enabled  the  girl  to  see  in  minute  detail,  and 
yet  with  unerring  accuracy.  It  is  true  that  the  poet, 
in  whose  biography  the  dream  with  all  the  attending 
circumstances  is  mentioned  at  full  length,  had  for  years 
anticipated  such  a  revolution,  and  often,  with  a  poet's 


102  MODERN   MAGIC. 

graphic  power,  conjured  up  the  scenes  that  were  likely 
to  happen  whenever  the  day  of  the  tempest  should 
arrive.  Thus  his  daughter's  mind  had,  no  doubt,  long 
been  filled  with  images  of  this  kind,  and  was  in  a  state 
peculiarly  susceptible  for  impressions  connected  with 
the  subject.  There  remains,  however,  the  magic  phe- 
nomenon that  she  saw,  not  a  poet's  fiction,  but  actual 
occurrences  with  all  their  details,  and  saw  them  in  the 
very  night  during  which  they  happened.  In  the  papers 
of  Sir  Eobert  Peel  was  found  a  note  concerning  his 
journey  from  Antibes  to  Nice,  in  1854.  He  was  on 
board  the  steamer  Erculano,  which,  on  the  25th  of 
April,  so  violently  collided  with  another  steamer,  the 
Sicilia,  that  it  sauk  immediately,  and  two-thirds  of  the 
passengers  perished.  Among  those  who  were  rescued 
were  the  great  English  statesman  and  the  maid  of  two 
ladies,  the  wife  and  the  daughter  of  a  counselor  of  a 
French  court  of  justice  at  Dijon.  The  young  girl  had 
had  a  presentiment  of  impending  evil,  but  her  wish  to 
postpone  the  journey  had  been  overruled.  The  father, 
also,  though  knowing  nothing  of  the  precise  where- 
abouts of  his  beloved  ones,  had  been  much  troubled  in 
mind  about  their  safety,  and  in  the  very  night  in  which 
the  accident  happened,  saw  the  whole  occurrence  in  a 
harassing  dream.  He  distinctly  beheld  the  vessel  dis- 
appear in  the  waves,  and  a  number  of  victims,  among 
whom  were  his  wife  and  his  child,  struggling  for  life, 
till  they  finally  perished.  He  awoke  in  a  state  of  great 
anguish,  summoned  his  servants  to  keep  him  corn- 


DEEAMS.  103 

pany,  and  told  them  what  he  had  dreamt.  A  few 
hours  later  the  telegraph  informed  him  of  the  accident, 
and  of  his  own  grievous  affliction.  (Journ.  de  I'ame, 
Fevr.  1857,  p.  253.) 

While  in  these  dreams  events  were  made  known 
which  happened  at  the  same  time,  in  other  dreams  the 
future  itself  is  revealed.  Cicero,  in  his  work  on  Divi- 
nation (I.  27,  and  II.  66),  and  Valerius  Maximus  have 
preserved  a  number  of  such  dream-visions,  which  were 
famous  already  in  the  days  of  antiquity  ;  a  dream  con- 
cerning the  tyrant  Dionysius  was  especially  well  known. 

It  seems  that  a  woman,  called  Himera,  found  herself 
in  a  dream  among  the  gods  on  Olympus,  and  there  saw 
chained  to  the  throne  of  Jupiter  a  large  man  with  red 
hair  and  spotted  countenance.  When  she  asked  the 
divine  messenger  who  had  carried  her  to  those  regions, 
who  that  man  was,  he  told  her  it  was  the  scourge  of 
Italy  and  Sicily,  a  man  who,  when  unchained,  would 
destroy  many  cities.  She  related  her  dream  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  to  her  friends,  but  found  no  explana- 
tion, till  several  years  afterwards,  when  Dionysius 
ascended  the  throne.  She  happened  to  be  in  the  crowd 
which  had  assembled  to  witness  the  triumph  of  the 
new  monarch,  and  when  she  saw  the  tyrant,  she 
uttered  a  loud  cry,  for  she  had  recognized  in  him  the 
man  in  chains  under  Jupiter's  throne.  The  cry  at- 
tracted attention ;  she  was  brought  before  Dionysius, 
forced  to  relate  her  dream,  and  sent  to  be  executed. 
Equally  well  known  was  the  remarkable  dream  whi?h 


104  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Socrates  had  a  short  time  before  his  death.  His  sen- 
tence had  already  been  passed,  but  the  day  for  its  exe- 
cution was  not  yet  made  known,  when  Crito,  one  of  his 
friends,  came  to  him,  and  informed  him  that  it  would 
probably  be  ordered  for  the  next  morning.  The  great 
philosopher  replied  with  his  usual  calmness:  "If  such 
is  the  will  of  the  gods,  be  it  so ;  but  I  do  not  think  it 
will  be  to-morrow.  I  had,  just  before  you  entered,  a 
sweet  dream.  A  woman  of  transcending  beauty,  and 
dressed  in  a  long  white  robe,  appeared  to  me,  called  me 
by  name,  and  said, '  In  three  days  you  will  return  to 
your  beloved  Phthia'  (Socrates'  native  place)."  He 
did  not  die  till  the  third  day. 

Alexander  the  Great  came  more  than  once,  during  his 
remarkable  career,  in  peculiar  contact  with  prophetic 
dreams.  He  was  thus  informed  of  the  coming  of  Cas- 
sander  long  before  he  ever  saw  him,  and  even  of  the 
influence  which  the  still  unknown  friend  would  have 
on  his  fate.  When  the  latter  at  last  appeared  at  court, 
Alexander  looked  at  him  long  and  anxiously,  and 
recognized  in  him  the  man  he  had  so  often  seen  in  his 
dreams.  It  so  happened,  however,  that  before  his 
suspicions  assumed  a  positive  form,  a  Greek  distich 
was  mentioned  to  him,  written  to  prove  the  utter 
worthlessness  of  all  dreams,  and  the  effect  of  these 
lines,  combined  with  the  discovery  that  Cassander  was 
the  son  of  his  beloved  Antipater,  induced  him  to  lay 
aside  all  apprehensions.  Nevertheless,  his  friend  sub- 
sequently poisoned  him  in  cold  blood.  Not  less 


DREAMS.  ]  05 

famous  was  the  dream  which  warned  Cains  Gracchus 
of  his  own  sad  fate.  He  saw  in  his  sleep  the  shadow 
of  his  brother  Tiberius,  and  heard  him  announce  in  a 
clear  voice,  that  Caius  also  would  share  his  tragic  end, 
and  be  murdered  like  himself  in  the  Capitol.  The 
great  Roman  frequently  related  this  dream,  and  the 
historian  Coelius  records  that  he  heard  it  repeated 
during  Gracchus'  life-time.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
latter  afterwards  became  a  tribune,  and  was  killed 
while  he  held  that  office,  in  the  same  manner  as  his 
brother.  Cicero  also  had  his  warning  dream.  He  was 
escaping  from  his  enemies,  who  had  driven  him  out 
of  Rome,  and  seeking  safety  in  his  Antium  villa. 
Here  he  dreamt,  one  night,  that,  as  he  was  wandering 
through  a  waste,  deserted  country,  the  Consul  Marius 
met  him,  accompanied  by  the  usual  retinue,  and 
adorned  with  all  the  insignia,  of  his  rank,  and  asked 
him  why  he  was  so  melancholy,  and  why  he  had  fled 
from  Rome.  When  he  had  answered  the  question, 
Marius  took  him  by  his  right  hand,  and  summoning 
his  chief  officer  to  his  side,  ordered  him  to  carry  the 
great  orator  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  built  by  Marius 
himself,  while  he  assured  Cicero  he  would  there  meet 
with  new  hopes.  It  was  afterwards  ascertained  that  at 
the  very  hour  of  the  dream,  the  Senate  had  been  dis- 
cussing in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  the  speedy  return  of 
Cicero.  It  would  have  been  well  for  the  great  Caesar, 
also,  if  he  had  deigned  to  listen  to  the  warning  voice 
of  dreams,  for  in  the  night  before  his  murder,  his  wife, 

5* 


106  MODERX   MAGIC. 

Calphurnia,  saw  him,  in  a  dream,  fall  wounded  and 
copiously  bleeding  into  her  arms,  and  there  end  his 
life.  She  told  him  of  her  dream,  and  on  her  knees 
besought  him  not  to  go  out  on  that  day ;  but  Caesar, 
fearing  he  might  be  suspected  of  giving  undue  weight 
to  a  woman's  dreams,  made  light  of  her  fears,  went  to 
the  Senate,  and  met  his  tragic  fate.  Among  later 
Romans  the  Emperor  Theodosius  was  most  strikingly 
favored  by  dreams,  if  we  may  rely  upon  the  statement 
of  Ammianus  Marcellinus  (I.  29).  Two  courtiers, 
anxious  to  ascertain  who  should  succeed  the  Emperor 
Valens  on  the  throne,  employed  a  kind  of  magic  instru- 
ment, resembling  the  modern  psychograph,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  deciphering  the  letters  Theod.  Their  dis- 
covery became  known  to  the  jealous  emperor,  who 
ordered  not  only  Theodorus,  his  second  secretary  of 
state,  to  be  executed,  but  with  him  a  large  number  of 
eminent  personages  whose  names  began  with  the  omi- 
nous five  letters.  For  some  unknown  reasons,  Theodo- 
sius, then  in  Spain,  escaped  his  suspicions,  and  yet  it  was 
he,  who,  when  Valens  fell  in  the  war  against  the  Goths, 
was  summoned  home  by  the  next  emperor,  Gratianus, 
to  save  the  empire  and  assume  the  supreme  command 
of  the  army.  When  the  successful  general  returned  to 
Byzantium  to  make  his  report  to  the  emperor,  he  had 
himself  a  dream  in  which  he  saw  the  great  Patriarch 
of  Antioch,  Meletius,  invest  him  with  the  purple,  and 
place  the  imperial  crown  upon  his  head.  Gratianus, 
struck  by  the  brilliancy  of  the  victory  obtained  at  the 


DREAMS.  107 

moment  of  supreme  danger,  made  Theodosius  Emperor 
of  the  East,  and  returned  to  Home.  During  the  follow- 
ing year  (380)  a  great  council  was  held  in  Constan- 
tinople, and  here,  amid  a  crowd  of  assembled  dignitaries 
of  the  church,  Theodosius  instantly  recognized  the 
Bishop  of  Antioch,  whom  he  had  never  seen  except  in 
his  dream. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  prediction  of 
future  greatness  which  Shakespeare  causes  the  three 
witches  to  convey  to  Macbeth,  rests  on  an  historic 
basis.  The  announcement  came  to  him,  however, 
probably  not  at  an  actual  meeting,  but  by  means  of  a 
prophetic,  dream,  which  presented  to  the  ambitious 
chieftain  the  appearance  of  an  encounter  with  un- 
earthly agents.  This  presumption  is  strengthened  by 
the  first  notice  of  the  mysterious  event,  which  occurs,  it 
is  believed,  in  "  Wyntownis  Cronykil,"  where  Macbeth 
is  reported  to  have  had  a  vivid  dream  of  three  weird 
women,  who  foretold  him  his  fate.  Boethius  derived 
his  information  from  this  source,  and  for  unknown 
reasons  added  not  only  Banquo  as  a  witness  of  the 
scene,  but  described  it,  also,  first  of  all  chroniclers,  as 
an  actual  meeting  in  a  forest. 

The  report  that  the  discovery  of  the  famous  Venus 
of  Milo  was  due  to  a  dream,  is  not  improbable,  but  is  as 
yet  without  sufficient  authentication.  The  French 
Consul,  Brest,  who  was  a  resident  of  Milo,  dreamed,  it  is 
stated,  two  nights  in  succession,  that  he  had  caused 
diggings  to  be  made  at  a  certain  place  in  the  island  and 


108  AIODEEX    MAGIC. 

that  his  efforts  had  been  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  a 
beautiful  statue.  He  paid  no  attention  to  the  dream ; 
but  it  was  repeated  a  third  time,  and  now  so  distinctly 
that  he  not  only  saw  clearly  all  the  surroundings,  but, 
also,  the  traces  of  a  recent  fire  on  the  spot  that  had 
been  pointed  out  to  him  before.  When  he  went  on  the 
following  day  to  the  place,  he  instantly  recognized  the 
traces  of  fire,  began  his  researches,  and  discovered  not 
only  the  Venus,  now  the  glory  of  the  Louvre,  but,  also, 
several  other  most  valuable  statues.  The  well-known 
dream  concerning  Major  Andre  is  open  to  the  same 
objections,  although  it  is  quoted  in  good  faith  by  Mrs. 
Crowe  (i.,  p.  59).  We  are  told  that  the  Eev.  Mr.  Cun- 
ningham, the  poet,  saw  in  a  dream  a  man  who  was 
captured  by  armed  soldiers  and  hanged  on  a  tree.  To 
his  utter  consternation,  he  recognized  on  the  following 
day,  in  Major  Andre,  who  was  then  for  the  first  time 
presented  to  him,  the  person  he  had  seen  in  his  dream. 
The  latter  was  then  just  on  the  point  of  embarking  for 
America,  where  he  met  with  his  sad  fate. 

A  large  number  of  dreams  which  are  looked  upon  as 
prophetic,  are  nothing  more  than  the  result  of  impres- 
sions made  on  the  mind  during  sleep  by  some  bodily 
sensation.  A  swelling  or  an  inflammation,  for  instance, 
is  frequently  announced  beforehand  by  pain  in  the 
affected  part  of  the  body ;  the  mind  receives  through 
the  nerves  an  impression  of  this  pain  and  clothes  it, 
during  sleep  and  in  a  dream,  into  some  familiar  garb, 
the  biting  of  a  serpent,  the  sting  of  an  insect,  or,  even, 


DREAMS.  109 

the  stab  of  a  dagger.  An  occasional  coincidence  serves 
to  lend  prestige  to  such  simple  and  perfectly  natural 
dreams.  Thus  Shilling  ("  Jenseits,"  p.  284)  records  the 
well-known  story  of  a  young  man  in  Padua,  who  dreamed 
one  night  that  he  was  bitten  by  one  of  the  marble  lions 
which  stand  before  the  church  of  St.  Justina.  Passing 
by  the  place,  on  the  following  day,  with  some  compan- 
ions, he  recalled  the  dream,  and  putting  his  hand  into  the 
mouth  of  one  of  the  lions,  he  said,  defiantly:  "Look  at 
the  fierce  lion  that  bit  me  last  night."  But  at  the  same 
moment  he  utterred  a  piercing  cry  and  drew  back  his 
hand  in  great  terror:  a  scorpion,  hid  in  the  lion's 
mouth,  had  stung  him,  and  the  poor  youth  died  of  the 
yenom.  The  German  poet  Conrad  Gessner  dreamed,  in 
a  similar  manner,  that  a  snake  bit  him  in  his  left 
breast ;  the  matter  was  completely  forgotten,  when  five 
days  later  a  slight  rising  appeared  on  the  spot,  which 
speedily  developed  itself  into  a  fatal  ulcer,  and  caused 
his  death  in  a  short  time. 

Far  more  interesting,  and  occasionally  productive  of 
good  results,  are  dreams  which  might  be  called  retro- 
spective, inasmuch  as  they  reveal  events  of  the  past, 
which  stand  in  some  connection  with  present  or  im- 
pending necessities.  Many  of  these,  no  doubt,  arise 
simply  from  the  recovery  of  forgotten  facts  in  our  mem- 
ory ;  others,  however,  cannot  be  thus  explained.  Jus- 
tinus  tells  us  of  Dido's  dream,  in  which  she  saw  her 
departed  husband,  Sichaeus,  who  pointed  out  to  her  his 
concealed  treasures  and  advised  her  to  seek  safety  in 


110  MODERN   MAGIC. 

flight.  St.  Augustine  also  has  an  account  of  a  father  who 
after  death  appeared  to  his  son  and  showed  him  a  re- 
ceipted account,  the  loss  of  which  had  caused  his  heir 
much  anxiety.  (De  euro,  pro  mortuis,  ch.  xi.)  After 
Dante's  death  the  thirteenth  canto  of  his  Paradise  could 
nowhere  be  found,  and  the  apparent  loss  filled  all  Italy 
with  grief  and  sorrow.  His  son,  Pietro  Alighieri,  how- 
ever, saw  a  long  time  afterwards,  in  a  dream,  his  father, 
who  came  to  his  bedside  and  told  him  that  the  missing 
papers  were  concealed  under  a  certain  plank  near  the 
window  at  which  he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  writing. 
It  was  only  when  all  other  researches  had  proved 
vain,  that,  attention  was  paid  to  the  dream  ;  but  when 
the  plank  was  examined  the  canto  was  found  in  the 
precise  place  which  the  dream  had  indicated. 

A  similar  dream  of  quite  recent  occurrence  was  acci- 
dentally more  thoroughly  authenticated  than  is  gen- 
erally the  case  with  such  events.  The  beautiful  wife 
of  Baron  Alphonse  de  Rothschild  of  Paris  had  lost  a 
valuable  ring  while  hunting  in  the  woods  near  her  cas- 
tle of  Ferrieres.  It  so  happened  that  early  associations 
made  the  jewel  specially  dear  to  her,  and  she  felt  the 
loss  grievously ;  a  reward  of  fifteen  hundred  francs 
was.  therefore,  offered  at  once  for  its  recovery.  The 
night  after  the  hunt,  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  keep- 
ers saw  in  a  dream  an  unknown  man  of  imposing  ap- 
pearance, who  told  her  to  go  at  daybreak  to  a  certain 
crossroad  in  the  forest,  where  she  would  find  the  ring 
at  the  foot  of  a  beech-tree,  close  to  the  highway.  She 


DREAMS.  Ill 

awakes,  dresses  herself  at  once,  and  goes  to  the  place  of 
which  she  has  dreamed ;  after  half  an  hour's  walk  she 
reaches  the  crossroads  and  almost  at  the  same  moment 
sees  something  glittering  and  shining  like  a  firefly, 
picks  it  up,  and  behold !  it  is  the  ring.  The  girl  had 
not  even  seen  the  hunt,  nor  did  she  know  anything  of 
the  loss  of  the  jewel ;  the  whole  occurrence,  and  the 
place  where  it  was  lost,  all  were  pointed  out  to  her  in 
her  dream.  (Le  Monde  lllustre,  Dec.  15, 1860). 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  the  question  has 
often  been  mooted  whether  the  mind  was  really  quite 
at  rest  during  sleep,  or  still  operative  in  dreams.  Some 
authors  deny  its  activity  altogether;  others  admit  a 
partial  activity.  The  philosopher  Kant  went  so  far  as 
to  maintain  that  perceptions  had  during  sleep  were 
clearer  and  fuller  than  those  of  the  day,  because  of  the 
perfect  rest  of  the  other  senses.  Recollection,  alone,  he 
added,  was  missing,  because  the  mind  acted  in  sleep 
without  the  cooperation  of  the  body. 

There  are,  however,  certain  facts  which  seem  to 
prove  that  the  mind  does,  at  least,  not  altogether  cease 
its  activity  while  the  body  is  asleep.  How  else  could 
we  explain  the  power  many  persons  undoubtedly  pos- 
sess to  awake  at  a  fixed  hour,  and  the  success  with 
which,  more  than  once,  great  mental  efforts  have  been 
made  during  profound  sleep  ?  Of  the  latter,  Tartiui's 
famous  sonata  is  a  striking  instance.  He  had  en- 
deavored in  vain  to  finish  this  great  work  ;  inspiration 
would  not  come,  and  he  had  abandoned  the  task  in 


112  MODERN    MAGIC. 

despair.  During  the  night  he  had  a  dream  in  which 
he  once  more  tried  his  best,  but  in  vain ;  at  the  mo- 
ment of  despair,  however,  the  Devil  appeared  to  him 
and  promised  to  finish  the  work  in  return  for  his  soul. 
The  composer,  nothing  loath,  surrenders  his  soul  and 
hears  his  magnificent  work  gloriously  completed  on  the 
violin.  He  wakes  up  in  perfect  delight,  goes  to  his 
desk,  and  at  once  writes  down  his  "  Devil's  Sonata." 
Even  children  are  known  occasionally  to  be  able  to 
give  intelligent  answers  while  fast  asleep ;  the  ques- 
tions, however,  must  be  in  accordance  with  the  current 
of  their  thoughts,  otherwise  they  are  apt  to  be  aroused. 
A  case  is  quoted  by  Reil  of  two  soldiers  who  used,  at 
times,  to  keep  up  an  uninterrupted  conversation  during 
a  whole  night,  while  they  were  to  all  appearances  fast 
asleep.  A  lady,  also,  was  unable  to  refuse  answers  to 
questions  put  to  her  at  night,  and  had  at  last  to  lock 
herself  in  carefully  whenever  she  went  to  sleep. 

Hence  it  is  that  some  of  the  most  profound  thinkers 
who  have  discussed  the  subject  of  dreams,  like  Des- 
cartes and  Leibnitz,  Jouffroy  and  Dugald  Stewart, 
Eichard  and  Carus,  with  a  number  of  others,  assert  the 
uninterrupted  wakefulness  of  the  mind.  Some  authors 
believe  that  the  spiritual  part  of  man  needs  no  sleep, 
but  delights  in  the  comfort  of  feeling  that  the  body  is 
in  perfect  repose,  and  of  forgetting,  by  these  means, 
for  a  time  the  troubles  of  daily  life,  and  the  responsi- 
bilities of  our  earthly  existence.  They  base  this  view 
upon  the  fact,  that,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  the  mind  is, 


DREAMS.  113 

during  sleep,  independent  of  tlie  body  and  the  outer 
world.  Thinking  is  quite  possible  during  sleep  with- 
out dreaming,  and  certain  bodily  sensations,  even,  are 
correctly  perceived,  as  when  we  turn  over  in  our  sleep, 
because  lying  on  one  side  produces  pain  or  uneasiness. 
We  not  only  talk  while  we  are  asleep,  but  laugh  or 
weep,  sigh  or  groan.  A  slight  noise,  a  whispered  word, 
affect  the  course  of  our  thoughts,  and  produce  new 
images  in  our  dreams,  as  certain  affections  and  even 
the  pressure  upon  certain  organs  are  sure  to  produce 
invariably  the  same  dreams.  Space  and  time  dis- 
appear, however,  and  naturally,  because  we  can  meas- 
ure them  only  by  the  aid  of  our  senses,  and  these  are, 
for  the  time,  inactive.  Hence  Dugald  Stewart  ascribes 
the  manner  in  which  a  moment's  dream  often  com- 
prises a  year,  or  a  whole  lifetime,  to  the  fact  that,  when 
we  are  asleep,  the  images  created  by  our  imagination 
appear  to  be  realities,  while  those  which  we  form  when 
we  are  awake  are  known  to  us  to  be  mere  fictions,  and 
hence  not  subject  to  the  laws  of  time. 

It  will  not  surprise  us,  therefore,  to  find  that  this 
activity  of  the  mind,  deprived  of  the  usual  means  of 
making  itself  known  to  others  by  gesture,  sound,  or 
action,  seeks  frequently  a  symbolical  utterance,  and 
this  is  the  grain  of  truth  here  also  hid  under  the  vast 
amount  of  rubbish,  known  as  the  interpretation  of 
dreams.  Troubles  and  difficulties  may  thus  appear  as 
storms ;  sorrow  and  grief  as  tears ;  troubled  waters 
may  represent  pain,  and  smooth  ice  impending  danger; 


114:  MODERN    MAGIC. 

a  dry  river-bed  an  approaching  famine,  and  pretty 
flowers  great  joy  to  come,  provided,  always,  we  are  dis- 
posed to  admit  a  higher  class  of  prophetic  dreams. 
Such  a  view  is  supported  by  high  authority,  for  since 
the  days  of  Aristotle,  great  writers,  divines  as  well  as 
philosophers,  have  endeavored  to  classify  dreams  accord- 
ing to  their  nature  and  importance.  The  great  re- 
former, Melauchthon,  in  his  work  on  the  soul,  divided 
them  into  common  dreams,  void  of  importance ;  pro- 
phetic dreams,  arising  from  the  individual  gifts  of  the 
sleeper ;  divine  dreams,  inspired  by  God  either  directly 
or  through  the  agency  of  angels,  and  finally,  demoniac 
dreams,  such  as  the  witches'  sabbath.  One  great  dif- 
ficulty attending  all  such  classification  arises,  however, 
from  the  well-known  fa'ct,  already  alluded  to,  that  ex- 
ternal sensations  are  by  far  the  most  frequent  causes  of 
dreams.  Even  these  have  been  systematically  arranged 
by  some  writers,  most  successfully,  perhaps,  in  the 
work  of  Maine  de  Biran,  but  he  overlooks  again  the 
numerous  cases  in  which  external  noises  and  similar 
accidents  produce  a  whole  train  of  thoughts.  Thus 
Pope  dreamed  of  a  Spaniard  who  impudently  entered 
his  library,  ransacked  the  books  on  'the  shelves,  and 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  his  remonstrances.  The  im- 
pression was  so  forcible  that  he  questioned  all  his 
servants,  and  investigated  the  matter  thoroughly,  till 
he  was  finally  forced  to  acknowledge  that  the  whole 
transaction  was  a  dream  caused  by  the  fall  of  a  book 
in  his  library,  which  he  heard  in  his  sleep.  A  still 


DREAMS.  115 

more  remarkable  case  occurred  once  in  a  hotel  in 
Dantzic,  where  not  one  person  only,  but  all  the  guests, 
without  exception,  dreamed  of  the  sudden  arrival  of  a 
number  of  travelers,  who  disturbed  the  whole  house, 
and  took  possession  of  their  rooms  with  unusual  clatter 
and  noise.  Not  one  had  arrived,  but  during  the  night 
a  violent  storm  had  arisen,  causing  doors  to  slam  and 
window-shutters  to  flap  against  the  house,  noises 
which  had  aroused  in  more  than  fifty  people  precisely 
the  same  impressions. 


IV. 
VISIONS. 

Concipiendis  visionibus  quas  pliantasias  vocant. 

QUTNTLLIAN. 

VISIONS,  that  is,  the  perception  of  apparently  tan- 
gible objects  in  the  outer  world,  which  only  exist  in 
our  imagination,  have  been  known  from  time  im- 
memorial among  all  nations  on  earth.  They  are,  in 
themselves,  perfectly  natural,  and  can  frequently  be 
traced  back  without  difficulty  to  bodily  affections  or 
a  disordered  state  of  the  mind,  so  that  many  emi- 
nent physicians  dispose  of  them  curtly  as  mere  inci- 
dental symptoms  of  congestion  or  neuralgia.  They 
may  present  real  men  and  things,  known  beforehand, 
and  now  reproduced  in  such  a  manner  as  to  appear 
objectively ;  or  they  may  be  ideal  forms,  the  product 
of  the  moment,  and  incompatible  with  the  laws  of 
actual  life.  Persons  who  have  visions  and  know 
nothing  of  their  true  nature,  are  apt  to  become  in- 
tensely excited,  as  if  they  had  been  transferred  into 
another  world.  The  images  they  behold  seem  to  them 
of  supernatural  origin,  and  may  inspire  them  with  lofty 
thoughts  and  noble  impulses,  but  only  too  frequently 
they  disturb  their  peace  of  mind  and  lead  them  to 
crime  or  despair. 


VISIONS.  117 

When  visions  extend  to  other  senses  besides  sight, 
and  the  peculiar  state  of  mind  by  which  they  are 
caused  affects  different  parts  of  the  body  at  once,  they 
are  called  hallucinations;  most  frequent  among  insane 
people,  of  whom,  according  to  Esquirol,  eighty  in  a 
hundred  are  thus  affected,  they  are  generally  quite  in- 
significant ;  while  visions  through  the  eye,  are  often 
accompanied  by  very  remarkable  magic  phenomena. 
Thus  the  visions  which  great  men  like  Cromwell  and 
Descartes,  Byron  or  Goethe,  record  of  their  own  ex- 
perience, were  evidently  signs  of  the  great  energy  of 
their  mental  life,  while  in  others  they  are  as  clearly 
symptoms  of  disease.  Ascribed  by  the  ancients  to 
divine  influence,  Christianity  has  invariably  denounced 
them — when  not  indubitably  inspired  by  God,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  martyr  Stephen  and  the  apostle  St.  John — 
as  works  of  the  Devil.  At  all  times  they  have  been 
communicated  to  others,  either  by  contagion  or,  in 
rare  cases,  by  the  imposition  of  hands,  as  they  have 
been  artificially  produced.  Thus  extreme  bodily  fatigue 
and  utter  prostration  after  long  illness  are  apt  to  cause 
hallucinations.  Albert  Smith,  for  instance,  while  as- 
cending Mont  Blanc,  and  feeling  utterly  exhausted,  saw 
all  his  surroundings  clearly  with  his  eyes,  and  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  beheld  marvelous  things  with  the  so- 
called  inner  sense.  A  Swiss  who,  in  1848,  during  a 
severe  cold,  crossed  from  Wallis  to  Kandersteg  by  the 
famous  Gemmi  Pass,  eight  thousand  feet  high,  saw  on 
his  way  a  number  of  men  shoveling  the  snow  from  his 


118  MODERX   MAGIC. 

path,  fellow-travelers  climbing  up  on  all  sides,  and 
rolling  masses  of  snow  which  changed  into  dogs;  he 
heard  the  blows  of  axes  and  the  laughing  and  singing 
of  distant  shepherds,  while  his  road  was  utterly  de- 
serted, and  not  a  human  soul  within  many  miles. 
His  hands  and  feet  were  found  frozen  when  he  arrived 
at  last  at  his  quarters  for  the  night,  and  ten  days  later 
he  died  from  the  effects  of  his  exposure.  During  the 
retreat  of  the  French  from  Eussia  the  poor  sufferers, 
frozen  and  famished,  were  continually  tormented  by 
similar  hallucinations,  which  increased  their  sufferings 
at  times  to  such  a  degree  as  to  lead  them  to  commit 
suicide.  Another  frequent  cause  of  visions  is  long- 
continued  fasting  combined  with  more  or  less  ascetic 
devotion.  This  is  said  to  explain  why  the  prophets  of 
the  Old  Testament  were  so  vigorously  forbidden  to  in- 
dulge in  wine  or  rich  fare.  Thus  Aaron  was  told : 
"  Do  not  drink  wine  nor  strong  drink,  thou  nor  thy 
sons  with  thee,  when  ye  go  into  the  tabernacle"  (Levit. 
x.  9) ;  Moses  remained  forty  days,  and  "  neither  did  eat 
bread  nor  drink  wine,"  when  he  was  on  Mount  Sinai 
(Deuter.  ix.  9) ;  the  Nazarites  were  ordered  not  to 
"  drink  any  liquor  of  grapes,  nor  to  eat  moist  grapes  or 
dried,"  and  even  to  abstain  from  vinegar  (Xumbers  vi. 
3),  and  Daniel  and  his  companions  had  nothing  but 
"pulse  to  eat  and  water  to  drink"  (Dan.  i.  12),  in 
order  to  prepare  them  for  receiving  "wisdom  and  know- 
ledge and  the  understanding  of  dreams  and  visions." 
Narcotics  also,  and,  in  our  day,  most  of  the  anaesthet- 


VISIONS.  119 

ics  can  produce  visions  and  hallucinations,  but  the 
result  is  in  all  such  cases  much  less  interesting  than 
when  they  are  produced  spontaneously.  Tobacco  and 
opium,  betel,  hasheesh,  and  cocoa  are  the  principal 
means  employed ;  but  Siberia  has  besides  its  narcotic 
mush  rooms,  Polynesia  its  ava,  New  Granada  and  the 
Himalaya  the  thorn-apple,  Florida  its  emetic  apa- 
lachine,  and  the  northern  regions  of  America  and 
Europe  have  their  ledum.  The  most  effective  among 
these  narcotics  seems  to  be  the  Indian  hemp,  since  the 
visions  it  produces  surpass  even  the  marvelous  effects 
of  opium,  as  has  been  recently  again  most  graphically 
described  by  Bayard  Taylor.  Laughing-gas,  also,  has 
frequently  similar  effects,  and  affords,  besides,  the  pre- 
cious privilege  of  freedom  from  the  painful,  often  ex- 
cruciating consequences  of  other  narcotics.  When 
perfumes  are  employed  for  the  express  purpose  of  pro- 
ducing visions,  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  how  much  is 
due  to  their  influence,  and  how  much  to  the  over-ex- 
cited mind  of  the  seer.  Benvenuto  Cellini  describes — 
though  probably  not  in  the  most  trustworthy  manner — 
the  amazing  effect  produced  upon  himself  and  a  boy  by 
his  side,  by  the  perfumes  which  a  priest  burnt  in  the 
Coliseum.  The  whole  vast  building  seemed  to  him 
filled  with  demons,  and  the  boy  saw  thousands  of 
threatening  men,  four  huge  giants,  and  fire  bursting 
out  in  countless  places.  The  great  artist  was  told,  at 
the  same  time,  that  a  great  danger  was  threatening 
him,  and  that  he  would  surely  lose  his  beloved  Angelica 


120  MODERN    MAGIC. 

within  the  month  ;  both  events  occurred  as  predicted, 
and  thus  proved  that  in  this  case  at  least  magic  phe- 
nomena had  accompanied  the  visions.  (Goethe,  B.  Cel- 
lini, 1.  iv.  ch.  2.) 

Among  other  external  causes  which  are  apt  to  pro- 
duce visions,  must  be  mentioned  violent  motions,  espe- 
cially when  they  are  revolving,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
Shamans  of  the  Laplanders  and  the  dancing  Dervishes 
of  the  East ;  self-inflicted  wounds,  such  as  the  priests 
of  Baal  caused  in  order  to  excite  their  power  of  divina- 
tion, and  long-continued  imprisonment,  as  illustrated  in 
the  well-known  cases  of  Benvenuto  Cellini  and  Silvio 
Pellico.  The  latter  was  constantly  tormented  by  sighs 
or  suppressed  laughter  which  he  heard  in  his  dungeon ; 
then  by  invisible  hands  pulling  at  his  dress,  knocking 
down  his  books  or  trying  to  put  out  his  light,  till  he 
began  seriously  to  suspect  that  he  might  be  the  victim 
of  invisible  malignant  powers.  Fortunately  all  these 
phenomena  disappeared  at  break  of  day,  and  thus  his 
vigorous  mind,  supported  by  true  piety,  was  enabled  to 
keep  his  judgment  uninjured. 

Diseases  of  every  kind  are  a  fruitful  source  of  visions 
and  some  are  rarely  without  them ;  but  the  character 
of  visions  differs  according  to  the  nature  of  the  affec- 
tions. Persons  who  suffer  with  the  liver  have  melan- 
choly, consumptive  patients  have  cheerful  visions. 
Epileptics  often  see  fearful  spectres  during  their  par- 
oxysms, and  persons  bitten  by  mad  dogs  see  the  animal 
that  has  caused  their  sufferings.  The  case  of  the  book- 


VISIONS.  121 

seller  Nicolai  in  Berlin  is  well  known ;  the  disease  of 
which  he  suffered,  is  not  only  very  common  in  some 
parts  of  Eussia,  but  productive  of  precisely  the  same 
symptoms.  The  patients  experience  first  a  sensation 
of  great  despondency,  folloAved  by  a  period  of  profound 
melancholy,  during  which  they  see  themselves  sur- 
rounded by  a  number  of  persons,  with  whom  they  con- 
verse and  quarrel,  half  conscious  of  their  own  delusion 
and  yet  not  able  to  master  it  wholly.  They  are  gen- 
erally bled,  whereupon  the  images  become  transparent 
and  shrink  into  smaller  and  smaller  space,  till  they 
finally  disappear  entirely.  Affections  of  the  heart  and 
the  subseqiient  unequal  distribution  of  the  blood 
through  the  system  are  apt  to  produce  peculiar  sounds, 
which  at  times  fashion  themselves  into  loud  and  har- 
monious pieces.  The  excitement  usually  attendant 
upon  specially  fatal  plagues  and  contagious  diseases  in- 
creases the  tendency  which  the  latter  naturally  have  to 
cause  hallucinations.  During  a  plague  in  the  reign  of 
Justinian,  men  were  seen  walking  through  the  crowd 
and  touching  here  and  there  a  person  ;  the  latter  were 
at  once  attacked  by  the  disease  and  invariably  suc- 
cumbed. Upon  another  such  occasion  marks  and 
spots  appeared  on  the  clothing  of  those  who  had  caught 
the  contagion,  as  if  made  by  invisible  hands,  the  suf- 
ferers began  next  to  see  a  number  of  spectres  and  died 
in  a  short  time.  The  same  symptoms  have  accompanied 
the  cholera  in  modern  times,  and  more  than  once 
strange,  utterly  unknown  persons  were  not  only  seen 

6 


122  MODEBX   MAGIC. 

but  heard,  as  they  were  conversing  with  others;  what 
they  said  was,  written  down  in  many  cases,  and  proved 
to  be  predictions  of  approaching  visits  of  the  dread 
disease  to  neighboring  houses.  A  magic  power  of  fore- 
sight seems  in  these  cases  to  be  developed  by  the  ex- 
treme excitement  or  deep  anxiety,  but  the  unconscious 
clairvoyance  assumes  the  form  of  persons  outside  of 
their  own  mental  sphere,  within  which  they  alone 
existed. 

By  far  the  most  frequent  causes  of  visions  are,  how- 
ever, those  of  psychical  nature,  like  fixed  ideas,  intense 
passions,  or  deep-rooted  prejudices,  and  concealed  mis- 
deeds. When  they  are  produced  by  such  causes  they 
have  often  the  appearance  of  having  led  to  the  commis- 
sion of  great  crimes.  Thus  Julian  the  Apostate,  who 
had  caused  the  image  of  his  guardian  angel  to  be  put 
upon  all  his  coins  and  banners,  naturally  had  this  form 
deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind.  In  the  night  before 
a  decisive  battle,  he  saw,  according  to  Ammianus 
Marcellinus,  this  protecting  genius  in  the  act  of  turn- 
ing away  from  him,  and  this  vision  made  so  deep  an 
impression  upon  his  mind  that  he  interpreted  it  as  an 
omen  of  his  impending  death.  On  the  following  day 
he  fell  in  battle.  The  fearful  penalty  inflicted  upon 
Charles  IX.  by  his  own  conscience  is  well  known ; 
after  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  he  saw,  by  day 
and  by  night,  the  forms  of  his  victims  around  him,  till 
death  made  an  end  to  his  sufferings.  On  our  own 
continent,  one  of  the  early  conquerors  gave  a  striking 


VISIONS.  123 

instance  of  the  manner  in  which  such  visions  are  pro- 
duced. He  was  one  of  the  adventurers  who  had 
reached  Darieu,  and  was  on  the  point  of  plundering  a 
temple ;  but,  a  few  days  before,  an  Indian  woman  had 
told  him  that  the  treasures  it  held  were  guarded  by  evil 
spirits,  and  if  he  entered  it  the  earth  would  open  and 
swallow  up  the  temple  and  the  conquerors  alike.  Xoth- 
ing  daunted,  he  led  his  men  to  the  attack ;  but,  as  they 
came  in  sight,  he  suddenly  saw,  in  the  evening  light, 
how  the  colossal  building  rocked  to  and  fro  as  in  a 
tempest,  and  thoroughly  intimidated  he  rode  away  with 
his  followers,  leaving  the  temple  and  its  treasures 
unharmed.  That  visions  are  apt  to  precede  atrocious 
crimes  is  quite  natural,  since  they  are  in  such  cases 
nothing  but  the  product  of  the  intense  excitement 
under  which  murders  are  often  committed;  but,  it 
would  be  absurd  to  look  upon  them  as  motive  causes. 
Ravaillac  had  constant  visions  of  angels,  saints,  and 
demons,  while  preparing  his  mind  for  the  assassination 
of  Henry  IV.,  and  the  young  student  who  attempted 
the  murder  of  Napoleon  at  Schb'nbrunn  repeatedly  saw 
the  genius  of  Germany,  which  appeared  to  him  and 
encouraged  him  to  free  his  country  from  the  usurper. 
Persons  who  attempt  to  summon  ghosts  are  very  apt  to 
see  them,  because  their  mind  is  highly  wrought  up  by 
their  proceedings  and  they  confidently  expect  to  have 
visions.  But  some  men  possess  a  similar  power  without 
making  any  special  effort  or  peculiar  preparations,  their 
firm  volition  sufficing  for  the  purpose.  Thus  Talma 


124  MODERN    MAGIC. 

could  at  all  times  force  himself  to  see,  in  the  place  of  the 
actual  audience  before  whom  he  was  acting,  an  assembly 
of  skeletons,  and  he  is  said  never  to  have  acted  better 
than  when  he  gave  himself  up  to  this  hallucination. 
Painters,  also,  frequently  have  the  power  to  summon 
before  their  mind's  eye  the  features  of  those  whose 
portrait  they  are  painting;  Blake,  for  instance,  was 
able  actually  to  finish  likenesses  from  images  he  saw 
sitting  in  the  chair  where  the  real  persons  had  been 
seated. 

While  visions  are  quite  common,  delusions  of  the 
other  senses  are  less  frequent.  The  insane  alone  hear 
strange  conversations.  Hallucinations  of  the  taste 
cause  patients  to  enjoy  delightful  dishes,  or  to  partake 
of  spoiled  meat  and  other  unpalatable  viands,  which 
have  no  existence.  Sweet  smells  and  incense  are  often 
perceived,  bad  odors  much  less  frequently.  The  touch 
is  of  all  senses  the  least  likely  to  be  deceived;  still 
deranged  people  occasionally  feel  a  slight  touch  as  a 
severe  blow,  and  persons  suffering  from  certain  diseases 
are  convinced  that  ants,  spiders,  or  other  insects  are 
running  over  their  bodies. 

The  favorite  season  of  visions  is  night — mainly  the 
hour  about  midnight — and  in  the  whole  year,  the  time  of 
Advent,  but  also  the  nights  from  Christmas  to  New 
Year.  This  is,  of  course,  not  a  feature  of  supernatural 
life,  but  the  simple  effect  of  the  greater  quiet  and  the 
more  thoughtful,  inward  life,  which  these  seasons  are  apt 
to  bring  to  busy  men.  The  reality  of  our  surroundings 


VISIONS.  125 

disappears  with  the  setting  sun,  and  in  deep  night  we 
are  rendered  almost  wholly  independent  of  the  influence 
exercised  in  the  day  by  friends,  family,  and  even  furni- 
ture. All  standards  of  measurement,  moreover,  disap- 
pear, and  we  lose  the  correct  estimate  of  both  space 
and  time.  Turning  our  thoughts  at  such  times  with 
greater  energy  and  perseverance  inward,  our  imagina- 
tion has  free  scope,  and  countless  images  appear  before 
our  mind's  eye  which  are  not  subject  to  the  laws  of  real 
life.  Darkness,  stillness,  and  solitude,  the  three  great 
features  of  midnight  seasons,  all  favor  the  full  activity 
of  our  fancy,  and  set  criticism  at  defiance  by  denying 
us  all  means  of  comparison  with  real  sounds  or  sights. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  asserted,  that  under  such  circum- 
stances men  are  also  better  qualified  to  perceive  mani- 
festations which,  during  the  turbo,  of  daily  life,  are 
carelessly  ignored  or  really  imperceptible  to  the  com- 
mon senses.  So  long  as  the  intercourse  with  the  world 
and  its  exigencies  occupy  all  our  thoughts,  and  self- 
interest  makes  us  look  fixedly  only  at  some  one  great 
purpose  of  life,  we  are  deaf  and  blind  to  all  that  does 
not  clearly  belong  to  this  world.  But  when  these  de- 
mands are  no  longer  made  upon  us,  and  especially  when, 
as  in  the  time  of  Advent,  our  thoughts  are  somewhat 
drawn  from  earthly  natures,  and  our  eyes  are  lifted 
heavenward,  then  we  are  enabled  to  give  free  scope  to 
our  instincts,  or,  if  we  prefer  the  real  name,  to  the  addi- 
tional sense  by  which  we  perceive  intangible  things.  A 
comparison  has  often  been  drawn  between  the  ability  to 


126  MODE  UN    MAGIC. 

see  visions  and  our  power  to  distinguish  the  stars.  In 
the  day,  the  brilliancy  of  the  sun  so  far  outshines  the 
latter,  that  we  see  not  a  single  one ;  at  night  they  step 
forth,  as  it  were,  from  the  dark,  and  the  deeper  the  black- 
ness of  the  sky,  the  greater  their  own  brightness.  Are 
they,  on  that  account,  nothing  more  than  creatures  of 
our  imagination,  set  free  by  night  and  darkness  ? 

As  for  the  favorite  places  where  visions  most  fre- 
quently are  seen,  it  seems  that  solitudes  have  already 
in  ancient  times  always  been  looked  upon  as  special 
resorts  for  evil  spirits.  The  deserts  of  Asia,  with  their 
deep  gullies  and  numerous  caves,  suggested  a  popula- 
tion of  shy  and  weird  beings,  whom  few  saw  and  no  one 
knew  fully.  Hence  the  fearful  description  of  Babylon 
in  her  overthrow,  when  "  Their  houses  shall  be  full  of 
doleful  creatures,  and  owls  shall  dwell  there  and  satyrs 
shall  dance  there."  (Isaiah  xiii.  21).  The  New  Testa- 
ment speaks  in  like  manner  of  the  deserts  of  Palestine 
as  the  abode  of  evil  spirits,  and  in  later  days  the  Faroe 
Islands  were  constantly  referred  to  as  peopled  with 
weird  and  unearthly  beings.  The  deserts  of  Africa  are 
full  of  Djiuns,  and  the  vast  plains  of  the  East  are  peopled 
with  weird  apparitions.  The  solitudes  of  Norwegian 
mountain  districts  abound  with  gnomes  and  sprites,  and 
waste  places  everywhere  are  no  sooner  abandoned  by 
men  than  they  are  occupied  by  evil  spirits  and  become 
the  scenes  of  wild  and  gruesome  visions. 

Well-authenticated  cases  of  visions  are  recorded  in 
unbroken  succession  from  the  times  of  antiquity  to 


VISIONS.  127 

our  own  day,  and  leave  no  doubt  on  the  mind  that 
they  are  not  only  of  common  occurrence  among  men, 
but  generally,  also,  accompanied  by  magic  phenomena 
of  great  importance.  The  ancients  saw,  of  course, 
most  frequently  their  gods;  the  pagans,  who  had  been 
converted  to  Christianity,  their  former  idols  threatening 
them  with  dire  punishment ;  and  Christians,  their 
saints  and  martyrs,  their  angels  and  demons.  Thus  all 
parties  are  supported  by  authorities  in  no  way  peculiar 
to  one  faith  or  another,  but  common  to  all  humanity ; 
and  the  battle  is  fought,  for  a  time  at  least,  between  faith 
and  faith,  and  between  vision  and  vision.  A  famous 
rhetor,  Aristides,  who  is  mentioned  in  history  as  one  of 
the  mightiest  champions  polytheism  ever  has  been  able 
to  raise  against  triumphant  Christianity,  saw,  in  his 
hours  of  exaltation,  the  great  .^Esculapius,  who  gave 
him  directions  how  to  carry  on  his  warfare.  At  such 
times  his  public  addresses  became  so  attractive  that 
thousands  of  enthusiastic  hearers  assembled  to  hang 
upon  his  lips.  The  story  of  the  genius  of  Socrates  is 
well  known  ;  Aulus  Gellius  tells  us  how  the  great  sage 
was  seen  standing  motionless  for  twenty-four  hours  in 
the  same  place,  before  joining  the  expedition  to  Potidea, 
so  absorbed  in  deep  thought  that  it  seemed  as  if  his 
soul  had  left  the  body.  Dion,  Plato's  most  intimate 
friend,  saw  a  huge  Fury  enter  his  house  and  sweep  it  with 
a  broom ;  a  conspiracy  broke  out,  and  he  was  murdered, 
after  having  lost  his  only  son  a  few  days  before. 
(Plutarch's  "Life  of  Dion,"  55.)  The  same  Simonides, 


128  MODERN    MAGIC. 

who  according  to  Valerius  Maximus  (De  Somniis,  1.  i.  cli. 
5),  had  escaped  from  shipwreck  by  the  timely  warning 
of  a  spirit,  was  once  dining  at  the  magnificent  house 
of  Skopas  at  Cranon,  in  TJiessaly,  when  a  servant 
entered  to  inform  him  that  two  gigantic  youths  were 
standing  at  the  door  and  wished  to  see  him  immediately. 
He  went  out  and  found  no  one  there ;  but,  at  the  same 
moment,  the  roof  and  the  walls  of  the  dining-room  fell 
down,  burying  all  the  guests  under  the  ruins  (Phasdrus' 
Fab.,  iv.  24).  The  ancients  looked  upon  the  vision,  in 
both  cases,  as  merely  effects  of  the  prophetic  power  of 
the  poet,  which  saved  him  from  immediate  death ;  once 
in  the  form  of  a  spirit  and  the  second  time  in  the  form 
of  the  Dioscuri.  For,  as  Simonides  had  shortly  before 
written  a  beautiful  poem  in  honor  of  Castor  and  Pollux, 
his  escape  and  the  friendly  warning  were  naturally 
attributed  to  the  heroic  youths,  who  constantly  appear 
in  history  as  protective  genii.  In  Greece  they  were 
known  to  have  fought,  dressed  in  their  purple  cloaks 
and  seated  on  snow-white  horses,  on  the  side  of  the 
Locri,  and  to  have  announced  their  victory  on  the  same 
day  in  Olympia,  and  Sparta,  in  Corinth,  and  in  Athens 
(Justin,  ix.  3).  In  Rome  they  were  credited  with  the 
victory  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Regillus,  and  reported  to 
have,  as  in  Greece,  dashed  into  the  city,  far  ahead  of  all 
messengers,  to  proclaim  the  joyful  news.  During  the 
Macedonian  war  they  met  Publius  Vatinius  on  his  way 
to  Rome  and  informed  him  that,  on  the  preceding  day. 
./Emilius  Paulus  had  captured  Perseus.  Delighted 


VISIONS.  129 

with  the  news,  the  prefect  hastens  to  the  Senate;  but  is 
discredited  and  actually  sent  to  jail  on  the  charge  of 
indulging  in  idle  gossip,  unworthy  of  his  high  office. 
It  was  only  when  at  last  messengers  came  from  the 
distant  army  and  confirmed  the  report  of  Perseus' 
captivity,  that  the  unlucky  prefect  was  set  free  again 
and  honored  with  high  rewards. 

In  other  cases  the  warning  genius  was  seen  in  visions 
of  different  nature.  Thus  Hannibal  was  reported  to 
have  traced  in  his  sleep  the  whole  course  and  the 
success  of  all  his  plans,  by  the  aid  of  his  genius,  who 
appeared  to  him  in  the  shape  of  a  child  of  marvelous 
beauty,  sent  by  the  great  Jupiter  himself  to  direct  his 
movements,  and  to  make  him  master  of  Italy.  The 
child  asked  him  to  follow  without  turning  to  look 
back,  but  Hannibal,  yielding  to  the  innate  tendency  to 
covet  forbidden  fruit,  looked  behind  him  and  saw  an 
immense  serpent  overthrowing  all  impediments  in  his 
way.  Then  came  a  violent  thunderstorm  with  fierce 
lightnings,  which  rent  the  strongest  walls.  Hannibal 
asked  the  meaning  of  these  portents,  and  was  told  that 
the  storm  signified  the  total  subjection  of  Italy,  but 
that  he  must  be  silent  and  leave  the  rest  to  fate.  That 
the  vision  was  not  fully  realized,  was  naturally  ascribed 
to  his  indiscretion.  The  genius  of  the  two  Consuls,  P. 
Decius  and  Manlius  Torquatus,  assumed,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  shape  of  a  huge  phantom  which  appeared  at 
night  in  their  camp  at  the  foot  of  Vesuvius,  and  an- 
nounced the  decision  that  one  leader  must  fall  in  order 

6* 


130  MODERN    MAGIC. 

to  make  the  army  victorious.  Upon  the  strength  of 
this  vision  the  two  generals  decided  that  he  whose 
troops  should  first  show  signs  of  yielding,  should  seek 
death  by  advancing  alone  against  the  Latin  army. 
The  legions  of  Decius,  therefore,  no  sooner  began  to 
fall  back,  than  he  threw  himself,  sword  in  hand,  upon 
the  enemy,  and  not  only  died  a  glorious  death  for  his 
country,  but  secured  a  brilliant  victory  to  his  brethren. 
At  a  later  period  a  genius  saved  the  life  of  Octavian. 
when  he  and  Antony  were  encamped  at  Philippi,  on 
the  eve  of  the  great  battle  against  Brutus  and  Cassius. 
The  vision  appeared  not  to  himself,  however,  but  to 
another  person,  his  own  physician,  Artorus,  who,  in  a 
dream,  was  ordered  to  advise  his  master  to  appear  on 
the  battle-field  in  spite  of  his  serious  indisposition. 
Octavian  followed  the  advice  and  went  out,  though  he 
had  to  be  carried  by  his  men  in  a  litter ;  during  his 
absence  the  soldiers  of  Brutus  entered  the  camp  and 
actually  searched  his  tent,  in  which  he  would  have 
perished  inevitably  without  the  timely  warning.  Of  a 
very  different  nature  was  the  vision  of  Cassius,  the 
lieutenant  of  Antony,  who,  during  his  flight  to 
Athens,  saw  at  night  a  huge  black  phantom,  which 
informed  him  that  he  was  his  evil  spirit.  In  his  terror 
he  called  his  servants  and  inquired  what  they  had  seen, 
but  they  had  noticed  nothing.  Thus  tranquilized,  he 
fell  asleep  again,  but  the  phantom  returned  once  more, 
and  disturbed  his  mind  so  painfully  that  he  remained 
awake  the  rest  of  the  night,  surrounded  by  his  guards 


VISIONS.  131 

and  slaves.  The  vision  was  afterwards  interpreted  as 
an  omen  of  his  impending  violent  death. 

The  Emperor  Trajan  was  saved  from  death  during  a 
fearful  earthquake  by  a  man  of  colossal  proportions, 
who  came  to  lead  him  out  of  his  palace  at  Autioch;  and 
Attila,  who,  to  the  surprise  of  the  world,  spared  Rome 
and  Italy  at  the  request  of  Pope  Leo  the  Great,  men- 
tioned as  the  true  motive  of  his  action  the  appearance 
of  a  majestic  old  man  in  priestly  garments,  who  had 
threatened  him,  drawing  his  sword,  with  instant  death 
if  he  did  not  grant  all  that  the  Roman  high-priest 
should  demand. 

In  other  cases,  which  are  as  numerous  as  they  are 
striking,  the  genius  assumes  the  shape  of  a  woman. 
Thus  Dio  Cassius  ("  Hist.  Rome,"  1.  lv.).  as  well  as  Sue- 
tonius ("  Claudius,"  1.  i),  relate  that  when  Drusus  had 
ravaged  Germany,  and  was  on  the  point  of  crossing  the 
Elbe,  the  formidable  shape  of  a  gigantic  woman  ap- 
peared to  him,  who  waded  up  to  the  middle  of  the 
stream  and  then  called  out :  "  Whither,  0  Drusus  ? 
Canst  thou  put  no  limit  to  thy  thirst  of  conquest  ? 
Back  !  the  end  of  thy  deeds  and  of  thy  life  is  at  hand ! " 
History  records  that  Drusus  fell  back  without  apparent 
reason,  and  that  he  died  before  he  reached  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine.  Tacitus  tells  us,  in  like  manner,  a  vision 
which  encouraged  Curtius  Rufus  at  the  time  when  he, 
a  gladiator's  son,  and  holding  a  most  humble  position, 
was  accompanying  a  quaestor  on  his  way  to  Africa. 
As  he  walked  up  and  down  a  passage  in  deep  meditar 


132  MOBEUN    MAGIC. 


tion,  a  woman  of  unusual  size  appeared  to  him  and 
said  :  "  Thou,  0  Bufus,  shalt  be  proconsul  of  this  prov- 
ince!" The  young  man,  perhaps  encoiiraged  and 
supported  by  a  vision  which  was  the  result  of  his  own 
ambitious  dreams,  rose  rapidly  by  his  eminent  ability, 
and  after  he  had  reached  the  consulate,  really  obtained 
the  province  of  Africa  (Ann.,  xi.  21).  The  younger 
Pliny,  who  tells  the  same  story  in  his  admirable  letter 
to  Suca  on  the  subject  of  magic,  adds  that  the  genius 
appeared  a  second  time  to  the  great  proconsul,  but 
remained  silent.  The  latter  saw  in  this  silence  a  warn- 
ing of  approaching  death,  and  prepared  for  his  end, 
which  did  not  fail  soon  to  close  his  career. 

It  is  very  striking  to  see  how  in  these  visions  also  the 
inner  life  of  man  was  invariably  clearly  and  distinctly 
reflected.  The  ambitious  youth  saw  his  good  fortune 
personified  in  the  shape  of  a  beautiful  woman,  which 
his  excited  imagination  called  Africa,  and  which  he 
hoped  some  time  or  other  to  call  his  own.  Brutus,  on 
the  contrary,  full  of  anticipations  of  evil,  and  suffering, 
and  perhaps  unconsciously,  bitter  remorse  on  account  of 
Cesar's  murder,  saw  his  sad  fate  as  a  hideous  demon. 
The  army,  also,  sharing,  no  doubt,  their  leader's  dark 
apprehensions,  looked  upon  the  black  Ethiopian  who 
entered  the  camp  as  an  evil  omen.  The  appointed 
meeting  at  Philippi  was  merely  an  evidence  of  the  su- 
perior ability  of  Brutus,  who  foresaw  the  probable 
course  of  the  war  and  knew  the  great  strategic  impor- 
tance of  the  famous  town. 


VISIONS.  133 

In  the  same  manner  a  tradition  Avas  long  cherished 
in  Augsburg  of  a  fanatic  heroine  on  horseback,  who 
appeared  to  Attila  when  he  attempted  to  cross  the  river 
Lech  on  his  way  from  Italy  to  Paunouia.  She  called 
out  to  him :  "  Back ! "  and  made  a  deep  impression 
upon  his  mind.  The  picture  of  the  giant  woman  was 
long  preserved  in  a  Minorite  convent  in  the  city,  and 
was  evidently  German  in  features  and  in  costume.  It 
is  by  no  means  impossible  that  the  lofty  but  supersti- 
tious mind  of  the  ruthless  conqueror,  after  having  long 
busied  itself  with  his  approaching  attack  itpon  a 
mighty,  unknown  nation,  personified  to  himself  in  a 
momentary  trance  the  genius  of  that  race  in  the  shape 
of  a  majestic  woman. 

This  was  all  the  more  probable  as  Holy  Writ  also 
presents  to  us  a  whole  series  of  mighty  women  who  ex- 
ercised at  times  a  lasting  influence  on  the  fate  of  the 
chosen  people,  and  the  world's  history  abounds  with 
similar  instances.  There  was  Deborah,  "  a  prophetess 
who  judged  Israel  at  that  time,"  and  went  to  aid  in  the 
defeat  of  Sisera,  and  there  was  Huldah,  the  prophetess, 
who  warned  Josiah,  king  of  Judah.  We  have  the  same 
grand  images  in  Greek  and  in  Eoman  history,  and  Ger- 
man annals  mention  more  than  one  Jettha  and  Velleda. 
The  series  of  warnings  given  by  the  more  tender- 
hearted sex  runs  through  the  annals  of  modern  races 
from  the  oldest  times  to  our  own  day.  One  of  the 
latest  instances  happened  to  a  king  well  known  for  his 
sneering  skepticism  and  his  utter  disbelief  of  all 


134  MODERN    MAGIC. 

higher  powers.  This  was  Bernadotte,  who  forsook  his 
benefactor  in  order  to  mount  the  throne  of  Sweden, 
and  turned  his  own  sword  against  his  former  niu<trr. 
Long  years  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  he  was  on  the 
point  of  sending  his  son  Oscar  with  an  army  against 
Norway,  and  met  with  much  opposition  in  the  Council 
of  State.  Full  of  impatience  and  indignation,  he 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  out  to  cool  his  heated 
mind  ;  as  he  approached  a  dark  forest  near  Stockholm, 
he  saw  an  old  woman  sitting  by  the  wayside,  whose 
quaint  costume  and  wild,  disheveled  hair  attracted  his 
attention.  He  asked  her  roughly  what  she  was  doing 
there?  Her  reply  was:  "If  Oscar  goes  into  the  war 
which  you  propose,  he  will  not  strike  but  receive  the 
first  blow."  The  king  was  impressed  by  the  warning 
and  returned,  full  of  thoughts,  to  his  palace ;  after  a 
sleepless  night  he  informed  the  Council  of  State  that 
he  had  changed  his  views,  and  would  not  send  the 
prince  to  Norway  (La  Presse,  May  4,  1844).  Even  if 
we  accept  the  interview  with  the  woman  as  a  mere 
vision,  the  effect  of  the  king's  long  and  anxious  pre- 
occupation with  an  important  plan  upon  the  success  of 
which  the  security  of  his  throne  and  the  continuation 
of  his  dynasty  might  depend,  the  question  still  remains, 
why  a  man  of  his  tastes  and  haughty  skepticism  should 
have  clothed  his  doubts  in  words  uttered  by  an  old  wo- 
man, dressed  in  fancy  costume  ? 

The  number  of  practical,   sensible  men   who  have, 
even  in  recent  times,   believed  themselves  under  the 


VISIONS.  lGf> 

special  care  and  protection  of  a  genius  or  guardian 
angel,  is  much  larger  than  is  commonly  known.  The 
ancients  looked  upon  a  genius  as  a  part  of  their  mythol- 
ogy; and  modern  Christians,  who  cherish  this  belief, 
refer  to  the  fact  that  the  Saviour  said  of  little  children : 
"  In  heaven  their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of 
my  Father  "  (Matt,  xviii.  10).  These  visions — for  so 
they  must  be  called — vary  greatly  in  different  persons. 
To  some  men  they  appear  only  when  great  dangers  are 
threatening  or  sublime  efforts  have  to  be  made ;  while 
in  others,  they  assume,  by  their  frequency,  a  more  or 
less  permanent  form,  and  may  even  be  inherited,  becom- 
ing tutelary  deities  of  certain  houses,  familiar  spirits,  or 
specially  appointed  guardian  angels  of  the  members  of 
a  family  or  single  individuals.  Hence,  the  well-known 
accounts  of  the  genius  of  Socrates  and  the  familiar 
spirits  of  the  Bible,  in  ancient  times.  Hence,  also,  the 
almost  uninterrupted  line  of  similar  accounts  through 
the  Middle  Ages  down  to 'our  own  day.  Thus,  Campanella 
stated  that  whenever  he  was  threatened  with  misfor- 
tune, he  fell  into  a  state  half  way  between  waking  and 
sleeping,  in  which  he  heard  a  voice  say :  "  Campanella  ! 
Campanella !"  and  several  other  words,  without  ever 
seeing  a  person.  Calignan,  Chancelor  of  Navarre, 
heard  in,  Beam,  his  name  called  three  times,  and  then 
received  a  warning  from  the  same  voice  to  leave  the 
town  promptly,  as  the  plague  was  to  rage  there  fear- 
fully. He  obeyed  the  order,  and  escaped  the  ravages  of 
the  terrible  disease  (Beaumont,"  Tractat.,"  etc.,  p.  208). 


136  MODERN    MAGIC. 

The  Jesuit  Giovanni  Carrera  had  a  protecting  genius, 
whom  he  frequently  consulted  in  cases  of  special  diffi- 
culty. He  became  so  familiar  with  him,  that  he  had 
himself  waked  every  night  for  his  prayers,  but  when  at 
times  he  hesitated  to  rise  at  once,  the  spirit  abandoned 
him  for  a  time,  and  Carrera  could  only  induce  him  to 
come  back  by  long-continued  praying  and  fasting 
("Hist.  S.  J.,"iii.  p.  177). 

The  Bernadottes  had  a  tradition  that  one  of  their  an- 
cestors had  married  a  fairy,  who  remained  the  good  gen- 
ius of  the  family,  and  long  since  had  predicted  that  one 
of  that  blood  would  mount  a  throne.  The  Bernadotte 
who  became  a  king  never  forgot  the  prophecy,  and  was 
largely  influenced  by  it,  when  the  Swedish  nobles  offer- 
ed him  the  throne.  It  is  well  known  that  Napoleon 
himself  either  believed,  or  affected  to  believe,  in  a  good 
genius,  who  guided  his  steps  and  protected  him  from 
danger.  He  appeared,  according  to  his  own  statements, 
sometimes  in  the  shape  of  a  ball  of  fire,  which  he  called 
his  "star,"  or  as  a  man  dressed  in  red,  who  paid  him 
occasional  visits.  General  Rapp  relates  that,  in  the  year 
1806,  he  once  found  the  Emperor  in  his  room,  appar- 
ently absorbed  in  such  deep  meditation  that  he  did  not 
notice  his  entrance,  but  that,  when  fairly  aroused,  he 
seized  Rapp  by  the  arm  and  asked  him  if  saw  that  star  ? 
"When  the  latter  replied  that  he  saw  nothing,  Napoleon 
continued:  "It  is  my  star;  it  is  standing  just  above 
you.  It  has  never  forsaken  me  ;  I  see  it  on  all  impor- 
tant occasions;  it  orders  me  to  go  on,  and  has  always 


VISIONS.  137 

been  a  token  of  success.  The  story,  coming  from  Gen- 
eral Rapp  himself,  is  quoted  here  as  endorsed  by  the 
great  historian,  Amedee  Thierry. 

Des  Mousseaux  reports  the  following  facts  upon  the 
evidence  of  trustworthy  personal  friends.  (La  3fa(/ie,etc., 
p.  366.)  A  Mme.  N.,  the  daughter  of  a  general,  was  con- 
stantly visited  by  her  mother,  who  had  died  long  ago, 
and  received  from  her  frequent  information  of  secret 
things,  which  procured  for  herself  the  reputation  of 
being  a  prophetess.  At  one  time  her  mother's  spirit 
•warned  her  to  try  and  prevent  her  husband,  who  would 
die  by  suicide,  from  carrying  out  his  purpose.  Every 
precaution  was  taken,  and  even  the  knives  and  forks 
were  removed  after  meals ;  but  it  so  happened  that  a 
soldier  of  the  National  Guard  came  into  the  house  and 
left  his  loaded  gun  in  an  anteroom.  The  lady's  hus- 
band unfortunately  chanced  to  see  it,  took  it  and  blew 
his  brains  out  on  the  spot. 

A  peculiarly  interesting  class  of  visions  are  those  to 
which  great  artists  have,  at  times,  owed  their  greatest 
triumphs.  Here,  also,  the  line  between  mere  delusion 
and  real  magic  phenomena  is  often  so  faint  as  to  escape 
attention.  For  artists  must  needs  cultivate  their  im- 
agination at  the  expense  of  other  faculties,  and  naturally 
live  more  in  an  ideal  world  than  in  a  real  world.  Pre- 
occupied as  they  are,  by  the  nature  of  their  pursuits, 
with  images  of  more  than  earthly  beauty,  they  come 
easily  to  form  ideals  in  their  minds,  which  they  en- 
deavor to  fix  first  upon  their  memory,  and  then  upon 


138  MODERN   MAGIC. 

canvas  or  in  marble,  on  paper  or  in  rapturous  words. 
Raphael  Sanzio  had  long  in  vain  tried  to  portray  the 
Holy  Virgin  according  to  a  vague  ideal  in  his  mind  ;  at 
last  he  awoke  one  night  and  saw  in  the  place  where  his 
sketch  was  hanging  a  bright  light,  and  in  the  radiance 
the  Mother  of  Christ  in  matchless  beauty,  and  with 
supernatural  holiness  in  her  features.  The  vision  re- 
mained deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind,  and  was  ever 
after  the  original  of  which  even  his  best  Madonnas 
could  only  be  imperfect  copies.  Benvenuto  Cellini, 
when  sick  unto  death,  repeatedly  saw  an  old  man 
trying  to  pull  him  down  into  his  boat,  but  as  soon  as 
his  faithful  servant  came  and  touched  him,  the  hideous 
vision  disappeared.  The  artist  had  evidently  a  picture 
of  Charon  and  his  Acherontic  boat  in  his  mind,  which 
was  thus  reproduced  in  his  feverish  dreams.  On 
another  occasion,  when  he  had  long  been  in  prison,  and 
in  despair  contemplated  suicide,  an  "  unknown  being  " 
suddenly  seized  him  and  hurled  him  back  to  a  distance 
of  four  yards,  where  he  remained  lying  for  hours  half 
dead.  In  the  following  night  a  "  fair  youth  "  appeared 
to  him  and  made  him  bitter  reproaches  on  account  of 
his  sinful  purpose.  The  same  youthful  genius  appeared 
to  him  repeatedly  when  a  great  crisis  approached  in  his 
marvelously  adventurous  life,  and  more  than  once 
revealed  to  him  the  mysteries  of  the  future.  (Goethe's 
"  Benv.  Cell."  i.  p.  375.)  Poor  Tasso  had  fearful  hallu- 
cinations during  the  time  when  his  mind  was  dis- 
ordered, but  above  them  all  hovered,  as  it  were,  the 


VISIONS.  130 

vision  of  a  glorious  Virgin  surrounded  by  a  bright  light, 
Avhich  always  comforted  and  probably  alone  saved  him 
from  self-destruction.  Like  Baphael,  Dannecker  also 
had  long  tried  in  vain  to  find  perfect  expression  for  his 
ideal  of  a  Christ  on  the  Cross;  one  night,  however,  he 
also  saw  the  Saviour  in  a  dream,  and  at  once  proceeded 
to  form  his  model,  from  which  was  afterwards  copied 
the  well-known  statue  of  transcendent  beauty  and 
power. 

Paganini  used  to  tell  with  an  amusing  air  of  assumed 
awe  and  reverence,  that  his  mother  had  seen,  a  few 
days  before  his  birth,  an  angel  with  two  wings  and  of 
such  dazzling  splendor  that  she  could  not  bear  to  look 
at  the  apparition.  The  heavenly  messenger  invited  her 
to  express  a  wish,  and  promised  that  it  should  be  ful- 
filled. Thereupon  she  begged  him  on  her  knees  to 
make  her  Kicolo  a  great  violinist,  and  was  told  that  it 
should  be  so.  The  vision — perhaps  nothing  more  than 
a  vivid  form  of  earnest  desire  and  fervent  prayer — had, 
no  doubt,  a  serious  influence  on  the  great  artist,  who 
was  himself  strangely  susceptible  to  such  impressions. 
(Moniteur,  Sept.  30,  1860.) 

Nothing  can  here  be  said,  according  to  the  purpose 
of  these  sketches,  of  the  long  series  of  visions  vouch- 
safed to  martyrs  and  saints;  their  history  belongs  to 
theology.  But  holy  men  have,  independent  of  their 
religious  convictions,  often  been  as  famous  for  their 
visions  as  for  the  piety  of  their  hearts,  and  their 
achievements  in  the  world.  Loyola,  for  instance,  with 


140  MODERN   MAGIC. 

his -faculties  perpetually  strained  to  the  utmost,  and 
with  his  thoughts  bent  forever  upon  a  grand  and  holy 
aim,  could  not  well  fail  to  rise  to  a  state  of  psychic 
excitement  which  naturally  produced  impressive  visions. 
Hence  he  continually  saw  strange  sights  and  heard 
mysterious  voices,  the  effect  now  of  extreme  despon- 
dency and  now  of  restored  confidence  in  God  and  in 
himself  as  the  agent  of  the  Most  High.  And  yet  these 
visions  never  interfered  with  the  clearness  of  his  judg- 
ment nor  with  his  promptness  and  energy  in  acting. 
Luther,  also,  one  of  the  most  practical  men  ever  called 
upon  to  act  and  to  lead  in  a  great  crisis,  hud  visions ; 
he  saw  the  Devil  and  held  loud  discussions  with  him ; 
he  suffered  by  his  persecutions,  and  made  great  efforts 
to  rid  himself  of  his  unwelcome  guest,  while  engaged 
in  his  great  work,  the  translation  of  the  Bible.  For  he 
was,  after  all — and  for  very  great  and  good  purposes — 
only  a  man  of  his  age,  imbued  with  the  universal 
belief  in  the  personal  existence  and  constant  presence 
of  Satan,  and  felt,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  Avas  en- 
gaged in  a  warfare  upon  the  results  of  which  depended 
not  only  the  earthly  welfare,  but  the  eternal  salvation 
of  millions. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  Mohammed,  who  had 
undoubtedly  visions  innumerable,  received  any  aid  from 
his  hallucinations  in  devising  his  new  faith.  Men  of  sci- 
ence tell  us  that  he  suffered  of  Hysteria  muscularis,  a  dis- 
ease not  uncommon  in  men  as  well  as  in  women,  which 
produces  periodical  paroxysms  and  is  characterized  by 


VISIONS.  1-11 

an  alternate  contraction  and  expansion  of  the  muscles. 
When  the  attack  came  the  prophet's  lips  and  tongue 
would  begin  to  vibrate,  his  eyes  turned  up,  and  the  head 
moved  automatically.  If  the  paroxysms  were  very  vio- 
lent he  fell  to  the  ground,  his  face" turned  purple,  and 
he  breathed  with  difficulty.  As  he  frequently  retained 
his  consciousness  he  pretended  that  these  symptoms 
were  caused  by  angels'  visits,  and  each  attack  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  new  revelation.  The  disease  was  the  result 
of  his  early  lawless  life  and  of  the  freedom  which  he 
claimed,  even  in  later  years — pleading  a  special  dispensa- 
tion from  on  high  as  a  divinely  inspired  prophet.  It  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  new  religion,  springing 
from  such  a  source,  and  proclaimed  amid  the  mountains 
and  steppes  of  Arabia,  which,  according  to  popular  be- 
lief, are  all  alive  with  djinus  and  demons,  should  be 
largely  based  upon  visions  and  hallucinations. 

The  important  part  which  visions  hold  in  the  history 
of  the  various  religions  of  the  earth  lies  beyond  our 
present  purpose;  we  know,  however,  that  the  records 
of  ancient  temples,  of  prophets,  saints,  and  martyrs,  and 
of  later  convents  and  churches,  abound  with  instances 
of  such  so-called  revelations  from  on  high.  They  have 
more  than  once  served  at  critical  times  to  excite  indi- 
viduals and  whole  nations  to  make  sublime  efforts. 
One  of  the  best  known  cases  of  the  former  class  is  that 
of  Constantino  the  Great,  who  told  Eusebius  of  Caesa- 
rea,  affirming  his  statement  with  a  solemn  oath,  that  he 
saw  in  312,  shortly  before  the  decisive  battle  at  Rome 


142  MODERX    MAGIC. 

against  his  formidable  adversary  Magentius,  a  bright 
cross  in  the  heavens,  surrounded  by  the  words:  In  hoc 
signo  vinces.  But  this  vision  stood  by  no  means  alone. 
He  himself  beheld,  besides,  in  a  dream  during  the  fol- 
lowing night,  the  Saviour,  who  ordered  him  to  use  in 
battle  henceforth  a  banner  like  that  which  he  had  seen 
in  his  vision.  Xazarius,  a  pagan,  also  speaks  of  a  num- 
ber of  marvelous  signs  in  the  heavens  seen  in  Gaul  im- 
mediately before  the  emperor's  great  victory.  Nor  can 
it  be  doubted  that  this  vision  not  only  inspired  Con- 
stantine  with  new  hopes  and  new  courage,  enabling 
him  to  secure  his  triumph,  but  also  induced  him,  after 
his  success,  to  avow  himself  openly  a  convert  to  the 
faith  of  Christ. 

The  visions  of  that  eminent  man  Swedenborg  are 
too  well  known  to  require  here  more  than  a  mere  allu- 
sion. Beginning  his  intercourse  with  the  supernatural 
world  at  the  ripe  age  of  forty-five,  he  soon  gave  himself 
up  to  it  systematically,  and  felt  compelled  to  make  his 
daily  conversations,  as  well  as  the  revelations  he  re- 
ceived from  time  to  time,  duly  known  to  the  public. 
Thus  he  wrote  with  an  evident  air  of  firm  conviction : 
"I  had  recently  a  conference  with  the  Apostle  Paul ;" 
and  at  another  time  he  assured  a  "Wurtemberg  prelate, 
"  I  have  conferred  with  St.  Paul  for  a  whole  year,  espe- 
cially about  the  words  in  Romans  iii.  28.  Three  times 
I  have  conversed  with  St.  John,  once  with  Moses,  and 
a  hundred  times  with  Luther,  when  the  latter  con- 
fessed that  he  had  taught  fidem  solam  contrary  to  the 


VISIONS.  143 

warning  of  an  angel,  and  that  he  had  stood  alone  when 
renouncing  the  pope.  With  angels,  finally,  I  have 
held  constant  intercourse  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and 
still  hold  daily  conversations." 

Classic  as  well  as  Christian  art,  is  indebted  to  visions 
for  more  than  one  signal  success.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  have  as  frequently  been  made  to  serve  vile  purposes, 
mainly  by  feeding  superstition  and  supporting  religious 
tyranny.  We  need  only  recall  the  terrible  calamity 
caused  by  a  wretched  shepherd  boy  in  France,  who,  in 
1213,  saw,  or  pretended  to  see,  heavenly  visions,  order- 
ing him  to  enlist  his  comrades,  and  with  their  aid,  to 
rescue  the  Holy  Land  from  the  possession  of  infidels. 
Thousands  of  little  children  were  seized  by  the  conta- 
gious excitement,  and  leaving  their  home  and  their 
kindred,  followed  their  youthful  leader,  unchecked  by 
the  authorities,  because  of  the  interpretation  applied  to 
the  words  of  Jesus  :  "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto 
Me ! "  Not  one  of  them  ever  reached  Palestine,  as  all 
perished  long  before  they  had  reached  even  Southern 
France. 

It  is  not  exactly  a  magic  phenomenon,  but  certainly 
a  most  startling  feature  in  visions,  that  the  minds  of 
many  men  should  be  able,  by  their  own  volition,  to  cre- 
ate images  and  forms  so  perfectly  like  those  existing  in 
the  world  around  us,  that  the  same  minds  are  incapable 
of  distinguishing  where  hallucination  and  reality  touch 
each  other.  This  faculty  varies,  of  course,  as  much  as 
other  endowments:  sometimes  it  produces  nothing  but 


144  MODERN    MAGIC. 

vague,  shapeless  lights  or  sounds  ;  in  other  persons  it  is 
capable  of  calling  up  well-defined  forms,  and  of  causing 
even  words  to  be  heard  and  pain  to  be  inflicted.  Dur- 
ing severe  suffering  in  body  or  soul,  it  may  become  a 
comforter,  and  in  the  moment  of  passing  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  it  is  apt  to  soothe  the 
anguish,  by  visions  of  heavenly  bliss,  but  to  an  evil  con- 
science it  may  also  appear  as  an  avenger,  by  prefiguring 
impending  judgment  and  condemnation.  It  is  this  in- 
fluence on  the  lives,  of  men,  and  their  great  moral  im- 
portance, which  lends  to  visions — and  in  a  certain  degree 
even  to  hallucinations — additional  interest,  and  makes 
it  ourdu,ty  not  to  set  them  aside  as  mere  idle  phantoms, 
but  to  try  to  ascertain  their  true  nature  and  final  pur- 
pose. This  is  all  the  more  necessary,  as  in  our  day  vis- 
ions are  considered  purely  the  offspring  of  the  seers  own 
mental  activity,  a  truth  abundantly  proven  by  the  sim- 
ple fact  that  blind  or  deaf  people  are  quite  as  capable  of 
having  visions  and  hallucinations,  as  those  who  have 
the  use  of  all  their  senses. 

Thus  these  magic  phenomena  have,  in  an  unbroken 
chain,  accompanied  almost  all  the  great  men  who  are 
known  to  history,  from  the  earliest  time  to  our  own 
day.  In  modern  times  they  have  often  been  success- 
fully traced  to  bodily  and  mental  disorders;  but  this 
fact  diminishes  in  no  way  the  interest  which  they  have 
for  the  student  of  magic.  The  great  Pascal,  who  was 
once  threatened  with  instant  death  by  the  upsetting  of 
his  carriage,  henceforth  saw  perpetually  an  abyss  by  his 


VISIONS.  145 

side,  from  which  fiery  flames  issued  forth  ;  he  could 
conceal  it  by  simply  placing  a  chair  or  a  table  between 
it  and  his  eyes.  In  the  case  of  the  English  painter 
Blake,  who  had  visions  of  historic  personages  which 
appeared  to  him  in  idealized  outlines,  his  periodical 
aberrations  of  mind  were  accepted  as  sufficient  expla- 
nation. The  bookseller  Nicolai,  of  Berlin,  on  the  con- 
trary, who,  like  Beaumont,  saw  hundreds  of  men, 
women,  and  children  accompanying  him  in  his  walks 
or  visiting  him  in  his  chamber,  found  his  ghostly 
company  dependent  on  the  state  of  his  health.  "When 
he  was  bled  or  when  leeches  were  applied,  the  images 
grew  pale,  and  disappeared  in  part  or  dissolved  entirely. 
A  peculiarity  of  his  case  was,  that  he  never  saw  visions 
in  the  dark,  but  all  his  phantasms  appeared  in  broad 
daylight,  or  at  night  when  candles  had  been  brought 
in  or  a  large  fire  was  burning  in  the  fireplace.  Captain 
Henry  Bell  had  been  repeatedly  urged  by  a  German 
friend  of  his,  Caspar  von  Sparr,  to  translate  the  Table- 
talk  of  Martin  Luther,  which,  having  been  suppressed  by 
an  edict  of  the  Emperor  Kudolphus,  had  become  very 
rare,  and  of  which  Sparr  had  sent  him  a  copy,  discovered 
by  himself  in  a  cellar  where  it  had  lain  buried  for  fifty- 
two  years.  Captain  Bell  commenced  the  work ;  but 
abandoned  it  after  a  little  while.  A  few  weeks  later  a 
white-haired  old  man  appeared  to  him  at  night,  pulling 
his  ear  and  saying:  "  What !  will  you  not  take  time  to 
translate  the  book  ?  I  will  give  you  soon  a  place  for  it 
and  the  necessary  leisure."  Bell  was  much  startled ; 

7 


146  MODERN    MAGIC. 

but  nevertheless  neglected  the  work.  A  fortnight  after 
the  vision  he  was  arrested  and  lodged  in  the  gate-house 
of  Westminster,  where  he  remained  for  ten  years,  of 
which  he  spent  five  in  the  translation  of  the  work. 
(Beaumont,  "  Tractat.,"  p.  72.)  Even  religious  visions 
have  by  no  means  ceased  in  modern  times,  and  more 
than  one  remarkable  conversion  is  ascribed  to  such 
agency.  We  do  not  speak  of  so-called  miracles  like 
that  of  the  children  of  Salette  in  the  department  of 
the  Isere,  in  1849,  or  the  recent  revelations  at  Lourdes, 
and  in  Southern  Alsace,  which  were  publicly  endorsed 
by  leading  men  of  the  church,  and  have  furnished  rich 
material  even  for  political  demonstrations.  The  vision 
of  Major  Gardiner,  also,  who,  just  before  committing  a 
sinful  action,  beheld  the  Saviour  and  became  a  changed 
man,  has  been  so  often  published  and  so  thoroughly 
discussed  that  it  need  not  be  repeated  here.  The  con- 
version of  young  Eatisbone,  in  1843,  created  at  the 
time  an  immense  sensation.  He  was  bom  of  Jewish 
parents,  but,  like  only  too  many  of  his  race,  grew  up  to 
become  a  freethinker  and  a  scoffer,  rejecting  all  faiths 
as  idle  superstitions.  One  day  he  strolled  into  the 
church  Delle  Fratte  in  Rome,  and  while  sunk  in  deep 
meditation,  suddenly  beheld  a  vision  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  which  made  so  deep  an  impression  upon  him 
that  it  changed  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life.  He  gave 
up  the  great  wealth  to  which  he  had  fallen  heir,  he 
renounced  a  lovely  betrothed,  and  resolutely  turning 
his  back  upon  the  world,  he  entered,  as  a  novice,  into  a 


visioxs.  147 

Jesuit  convent ;  thus  literally  forsaking  all  in  order  to 
follow  Christ. 

The  magic  phenomena  accompanying  visions,  have, 
among  nations  of  the  Sclavic  race,  not  unfrequently  a 
specially  formidable  and  repellent  character,  corre- 
sponding, no  doubt,  with  the  temperament  and  turn  of 
imagination  peculiar  to  that  race.  The  Sclaves  are  apt 
to  be  ridden  by  invisible  men,  till  they  drop  down  in  a 
swoon;  they  are  driven  by  wild  beasts  to  the  graves  of 
criminals,  where  they  behold  fearful  sights,  or  they  are 
forced  to  mingle  with  troops  of  evil  spirits  roving  over 
the  wide,  waste  steppes,  and  they  invariably  suffer  from 
the  sad  effects  of  such  visions,  till  a  premature  death 
relieves  them  after  a  few  months.  In  "Wallachia  a 
special  vision  of  the  so-called  Pickolitch  is  quite  com- 
mon, and  has,  in  one  case  at  least,  been  officially  re- 
corded by  military  authorities.  A  poor  private  soldier, 
Avho  had  already  more  than  once  suffered  from  visions, 
was  ordered  to  stand  guard  in  a  lonely  mountain  pass, 
and  forced  by  the  rules  of  the  service  to  take  his  place 
there,  although  he  begged  hard  to  be  allowed  to  ex- 
change with  a  brother  soldier,  as  he  knew  he  would 
come  to  grief.  The  officer  in  command,  struck  by  the 
earnestness  of  his  prayer,  promised  to  lend  him  all 
possible  assistance,  and  placed  a  second  sentinel  for  his 
support  close  behind  him.  At  half  past  ten  o'clock 
the  officer  and  a  high  civil  functionary  saw  a  dark 
figure  rush  by  the  house  in  which  they  were ;  they 
hastened  at  once  to  the  post,  where  two  shots  had 


148  MODERX    MAGIC. 

fallen  in  rapid  succession,  and  found  the  inner  sentinel, 
the  still  smoking  rifle  in  hand,  staring  fixedly  at  the 
place  where  his  comrade  had  stood,  and  utterly  uncon- 
scious of  the  approach  of  his  superior.  AVhen  they 
reached  the  outer  post  they  found  the  rifle  on  the 
ground,  shattered  to  pieces,  and  the  heavy  barrel  bent 
in  the  shape  of  a  scythe,  while  the  man  himself  lay  at  a 
considerable  distance,  groaning  with  pain,  for  his  whole 
body  was  so  severely  burnt  that  he  died  on  the  follow- 
ing day.  The  survivor  stated  that  a  black  figure  had 
fallen,  as  if  from  heaven,  upon  his  comrade  and  torn 
him  to  pieces  in  spite  of  the  two  shots  he  had  fired  at 
it  from  a  short  distance,  then  it  had  vanished  again  in 
an  instant.  The  matter  was  duly  reported  to  head- 
quarters, and  when  an  investigation  was  ordered,  the 
fact  was  discovered  that  a  number  of  precisely  similar 
occurrences  had  already  been  officially  recorded.  The 
vision  is,  of  course,  nothing  more  than  a  product  of  the 
excited  imagination  of  the  mountaineers,  who  lend  the 
favorite  shape  of  a  "  Pickolitch  "  to  the  frequent,  bizarre- 
looking  masses  of  fog  and  mist  which  rise  in  their  dark 
valleys,  hover  over  gullies  and  abysses,  and  driven  by  a 
sudden  current  of  wind,  fly  upward  with  amazing 
rapidity,  and  thus  seem  to  disappear  in  an  instant. 
The  apprehension  of  the  poor  sentinel,  on  the  other 
hand,  was  a  kind  of  clairvoyance  produced  by  the  com- 
bined influence  of  local  tradition,  the  nightly  hour  and 
the  dark  pass,  upon  a  previously-excited  mind,  while 
the  vision  of  the  two  officers  was  a  similar  magic  phe- 


VISIONS.  149 

nomena,  the  result  of  the  impressions  made  upon  them 
by  the  instant  prayer  of  the  victim,  and  a  hot  discus- 
sion about  the  reality  of  the  "  Prikolitch."  The  sen- 
tinel probably  saw  a  weird  shape  and  fired ;  the  gun 
burst  and  killed  him  outright,  setting  fire  to  his  clothes, 
a  supposition  strengthened  by  the  statement  that  the 
poor  fellow,  anticipating  a  meeting  with  the  spectre, 
had  put  a  double  charge  into  his  rifle.  The  accident 
teaches  once  more  that  a  mere  denial  of  facts  and  a 
haughty  smile  at  the  idea  of  visions  profit  us  nothing, 
while  a  calm  and  careful  examination  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances may  throw  much  light  upon  their  nature, 
and  help,  in  the  course  of  time,  to  extirpate  fatal 
superstitions,  like  those  of  the  "  Prikolitch." 

It  is  interesting  to  see  how  harmless  and  even 
pleasant  are,  in  comparison,  the  visions  of  men  with 
well-trained  minds  and  kindly  dispositions.  The  book- 
seller Nicolai  entertained  his  phantom-guests,  and  was 
much  amused,  at  times,  by  their  conversation.  Mac- 
nish  ("Sleep,"  p.  194)  tells  us  the  same  of  Dr.  Bostock, 
who  had  frequent  visions,  and  of  an  elderly  lady  whom 
Dr.  Alderson  treated  for  gout,  and  who  received  friendly 
visits  from  kinsmen  and  acquaintances  with  whom  she 
conversed,  but  who  disappeared  instantly  when  she 
rang  for  her  maid.  Another  patient  of  Dr.  Alderson's, 
who  saw  himself  in  the  same  manner  surrounded  by 
numbers  of  persons,  even  felt  the  blows  which  a  phan- 
tom-carter gave  him  with  his  whip.  Although  in  all 
these  cases  the  visions  disappeared  after  energetic 


150  MODERN    MAGIC. 

bleeding  and  purging,  the  phenomena  were  neverthe- 
less real  as  far  as  they  affected  the  patient,  and  have  in 
every  instance  been  fully  authenticated  and  scientific- 
ally investigated.  The  well-known  author,  Macnish, 
himself  was  frequently  a  victim  of  this  kind  of  self- 
delusion  ;  he  saw  during  an  attack  of  fever  fearful 
hellish  shapes,  forming  and  dissolving  at  pleasure,  and 
during  one  night  he  beheld  a  whole  theatre  filled  with 
people,  among  whom  he  recognized  many  friends  and 
acquaintances,  while  on  the  stage  he  saw  the  famous 
Ducrow  with  his  horses.  As  soon  as  he  opened  his 
eyes  the  scene  disappeared,  but  the  music  continued, 
for  the  orchestra  played  a  magnificent  march  from 
Aladdin,  and  did  not  cease  its  magic  performance  for 
five  hours.  The  vision  of  the  eye  seems  thus  to  have 
been  under  the  influence  of  his  will,  but  his  hearing 
was  beyond  his  control. 

A  very  interesting  class  of  visions  accompanied  by 
undoubted  magic  phenomena,  and  as  frequent  in  our 
day  as  at  any  previous  period,  is  formed  by  those  which 
are  the  result  of  climatic  and  topographic  peculiari- 
ties. We  have  already  stated  that  the  peculiar  impres- 
sion made  upon  predisposed  minds  by  vast  deserts  and 
boundless  wastes-  is  frequently  ascribed,  by  the  super- 
stitious dwellers  near  such  localities,  to  the  influence 
of  evil  spirits.  Such  a  vision  is  the  Ragl  of  Northern 
Africa,  which  occurs  either  after  fatiguing  journeys 
through  the  dry,  hot  desert,  in  consequence  of  great 
nervous  excitement,  or  as  one  of  the  symptoms  of 


VISIONS.  ]  5  1 

typhoid  fever  in  native  patients.  Seeing  and  hearing 
are  alike  affected,  the  other  senses  only  in  rare  cases. 
Ordinarily  the  eye  sees  everything  immensely  magni- 
fied or  oddly  changed  ;  pebbles  become  huge  blocks  of 
stone,  faint  tracks  in  the  hot  sand  change  into  broad 
causeways  or  ample  meadows,  and  distant  shadows  ap- 
pear as  animals,  wells,  or  mountain-dells.  If  the  moon 
rises  the  vision  increases  in  size  and  distinctness ;  the 
scene  becomes  animated,  men  pass  by,  camels  follow 
each  other  in  long  lines,  and  troops  are  marching  past 
in  battalions.  Then  the  ear  also  begins  to  succumb  to 
the  charm;  the  rustling  of  dry  leaves  becomes  the 
sweet  song  of  numerous  birds;  the  wind  changes  into 
cries  of  despair,  and  the  noise  of  falling  sand  into  dis- 
tant thunder.  The  brain  remains  apparently  unaf- 
fected, for  travelers  suffering  of  the  Ragl  are  able  to 
make  notes  and  record  the  symptoms,  although  the 
note-book  looks  to  them  like  a  huge  album  with  costly 
engravings.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  great 
afflux  of  blood  to  the  eyes  and  the  ears  is  the  first  cause 
of  these  phenomena,  but  the  peculiar  nature  of  the 
visions  remains  still  a  mystery.  One  striking  peculi- 
arity is  their  unvarying  identity  in  men  of  the  same 
race  and  culture ;  Europeans  have  their  own  halluci- 
nations which  are  not  shared  by  Africans ;  the  former 
see  churches,  houses,  and  carriages,  the  latter  mosques, 
tents,  and  camels,  thus  proving  here  also  the  fact  that 
these  delusions  of  the  senses  are  produced  in  the  mind 
and  not  in  the  outer  world.  Travelers  who  suffer  from 


152  MODERN    MAGIC. 

hunger  or  from  the  dread  effects  of  the  simoon  are 
naturally  more  subject  to  the  Ragl  than  others;  the 
visions  generally  appear  towards  midnight  and  continue 
till  six  or  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  while  during 
the  day  they  are  only  seen  in  cases  of  aggravated  suf- 
fering. Another  peculiarity  is  the  fact  that  these 
visions  connect  themselves  only  with  small  objects  and 
moderate  sounds  ;  the  gentle  friction  of  a  vibrating 
tassel  on  his  camel's  neck  appeared  to  the  great  ex- 
plorer Eichardson  like  the  clacking  of  a  mill-wheel,  but 
the  words  shouted  by  his  companion  sounded  quite  nat- 
ural. Thus  he  saw  in  every  little  lichen  a  green  gar- 
den spot,  but  the  stars  he  discerned  distinctly  enough 
to  direct  his  way  by  them  even  when  suffering  most  in- 
tensely from  the  Eagl. 

The  Fata  Morgana  of  the  so-called  Great  Desert  in 
Oregon,  in  which  the  waters  of  the  Paducah,  Kansas, 
and  Arkansas  lose  themselves  to  a  great  extent,  is  a 
kindred  affection.  Here  also  phantoms  of  every  kind 
are  seen,  gigantic  horsemen,  colossal  buildings,  and 
flitting  fires  ;  but  the  absence  of  heat  makes  the  visions 
less  frequent  and  less  distinct.  The  Indians,  however, 
like  the  Moors  of  Africa,  dread  these  apparitions  and 
ascribe  them  to  evil  spirits.  These  phenomena  have  be- 
sides a  special  interest,  by  proving  how  constantly  in  all 
these  questions  of  modern  magic  facts  are  combined  with 
mere  delusions.  The  flitting  fires,  to  which  we  alluded, 
for  instance,  are  not  mere  visions,  but  real  and  tangible 
substances,  the  effect  of  gaseous  effusions  which  are 


VISIONS.  153 

quite  frequent  on  these  steppes.  So  it  is  also  with  the 
local  visions  peculiar  to  mountain  regions,  like  the  Lit- 
tle Gray  Man  of  the  Grisons  in  Switzerland  and  the 
gnomes  of  miners  in  almost  all  lauds.  The  dwellers  in 
Alpine  regions  acquire — or  even  inherit,  it  may  be — a 
peculiar  power  of  divination  with  regard  to  the  weath- 
er; they  feel  instinctively,  and  without  ever  giving 
themselves  the  trouble  of  trying  to  ascertain  the  rea- 
son, the  approach  of  fogs  and  mists,  so  dangerous  to 
the  welfare  of  their  herds  and  their  own  safety.  This 
presentiment  is  clothed  by  local  traditions  and  their 
own  vivid  imaginations  in  the  familiar  shape  of  super- 
natural beings,  and  what  was  at  first  perhaps  merely  a 
form  of  speech,  has  gradually  become  a  deep-rooted  be- 
lief handed  down  from  father  to  son.  They  end  by 
really  seeing — with  their  mind's  eye — the  rising  mists 
and  drifting  fogs  in  the  shape  which  they  have  so  often 
heard  mentioned,  or  give  to  rising  gases,  far  down  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth,  the  form  of  familiar  gnomes. 
These  visions  are  hence  not  altogether  produced  by  the 
imagination,  but  have,  so  to  say,  a  grain  of  truth  around 
which  the  weird  form  is  woven. 

A  numerous  class  of  visions,  presenting  some  of  the 
most  interesting  phenomena  of  this  branch  of  magic, 
must  be  looked  upon  as  the  result  of  the  innate  desire 
to  fathom  the  mystery  of  future  life.  The  human 
heart,  conscious  of  immortality  by  nature  and  assured 
of  it  by  revelation,  desires  ardently  to  lift  the  veil  which 
conceals  the  secrets  of  the  life  to  come.  Among  other 


154  MODERN   MAGIC. 

means  to  accomplish  this,  the  promise  has  often  been 
exacted  of  dear  friends,  that  they  would.,  after  death, 
return  and  make  known  their  condition  in  the  other 
world.  Snch  compacts  have  been  made  from  time 
immemorial — but  so  far  their  only  result  has  been  that 
the  survivors  have  believed  occasionally  that  they  have 
received  visits  from  deceased  friends — in  other  words, 
that  their  state  of  great  excitement  and  eager  expectation 
has  caused  them  to  have  visions.  It  remains  true,  after 
all,  that  from  that  bourne  no  traveler  ever  returns. 
Nevertheless,  these  visions  have  a  deep  interest  for  the 
psychologist,  as  they  are  the  result  of  unconscious 
action,  and  thus  display  what  thoughts  dwell  in  our 
innermost  heart  concerning  the  future. 


V. 
GHOSTS. 

"  Sunt  aliquid  manes  ;  letum  non  omnia  finit." 

THERE  are  few  subjects,  outside  of  the  vexed  ques- 
tions of  Theology,  on  which  eminent  men  of  all  nations 
and  ages  have  held  more  varied  views  than  so-called 
ghosts.  The  very  term  has  been  understood  differently 
by  almost  every  great  writer  who  has  approached  the 
boundary  line  of  this  department  of  magic.  The  word 
which  is  now  commonly  used  in  order  to  designate  any 
immaterial  being,  not  made  of  the  earth,  earthy,  or 
perhaps,  in  a  higher  sense,  the  "  body  spiritual  "  of  St. 
Paul,  was  in  the  early  days  of  Christianity  applied  to 
the  visible  spirits  of  deceased  persons  only.  In  the 
Middle  Ages  again,  when  everything  weird  and  un- 
natural was  unhesitatingly  ascribed  to  diabolic  agency, 
these  phenomena,  also,  were  regarded  as  nothing  else 
but  the  Devil's  work.  Theologians  have  added  in 
recent  days  a  new  subject  of  controversy  to.  this  vexed 
matter.  The  divines  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
century  denied,  of  course,  the  possibility  of  a  reappear- 
ance of  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  as  they  were  in 
consistency  bound  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  purgatory, 
and  yet,  from  purgatory  alone  were  these  spirits,  accord- 


150  MODEUX    MAGIC. 

ing  to  popular  belief,  allowed  to  revisit  the  earth — heaven 
and  hell  being  comparatively  closed  places.  As  the 
people  insisted  upon  seeing  ghosts,  however,  there 
remained  nothing  but  to  declare  them  to  be  delusions 
produced  for  malign  purposes  by  the  Evil  One  himself; 
and  so  decided,  not  many  generations  ago,  the  Con- 
sistory of  Basle  in  an  appeal  made  by  a  German  mystic 
author,  Jung  Stilling.  And  yet  it  is  evident  that  a 
number  of  eminent  thinkers,  and  not  a  few  of  the  most 
skeptic  philosophers  even,  have  believed  in  the  occur- 
rence of  such  visits  by  inmates  of  Sheol.  Hugo  Grotius 
and  Pufieudorf.  whose  far-famed  worldly  wisdom  entitles 
their  views  to  great  respect,  Machiavelli  and  Boccaccio, 
Thomasius  and  even  Kant,  all  have  repeatedly  admitted 
the  existence  of  what  we  familiarly  call  ghosts.  The 
great  philosopher  of  Konigsberg  enters  fully  into  the 
subject.  "  Immaterial  beings,"  he  says,  "  including 
the  souls  of  men  and  animals,  may  exist,  though  they 
must  be  considered  as  not  filling  space  but  only  acting 
within  the  limits  of  space."  He  admits  the  probability 
that  ere  long  the  process  will  be  discovered,  by  which 
the  human  soul,  even  in  this  life,  is  closely  connected 
with  the  immaterial  inmates  of  the  world  of  spirits,  a 
connection  which  he  states  to  be  operative  in  both 
directions,  men  affecting  spirits  and  spirits  acting  upon 
men,  though  the  latter  are  unconscious  of  such  impres- 
sions "  as  long  as  all  is  well."  In  the  same  manner  in 
which  the  physical  world  is  under  the  control  of  a  law 
of  gravity,  he  believes  the  spiritual  world  to  be  ruled  by 


GHOSTS.  157 

a  moral  law,  which  causes  a  distinction  between  good 
and  evil  spirits.  The  same  belief  is  entertained  and 
fully  discussed  by  French"  authors  of  eminence,  such  as 
Des  Mousseaux,  De  Mirville,  and  others.  The  Catholic 
church  has  never  absolutely  denied  the  doctrine  of 
ghosts,  perhaps  considering  itself  bound  by  the  biblical 
statement  that  "  the  graves  were  opened  and  many 
bodies  of  the  saints  which  slept,  arose  and  came  out  of 
the  graves  and  went  into  the  holy  city  and  appeared  unto 
many."  (St.  Matt,  xxvii.  52.)  Tertullian,  St.  Augustine, 
and  Thomas  de  Aquinas,  all  state  distinctly,  as  a  dogma, 
that  the  souls  of  the  departed  can  leave  their  home, 
though  not  at  will,  but  only  by  special  permission  of 
the  Almighty.  St.  Augustine  mentions  saints  by  whom 
he  was  visited,  and  Thomas  de  Aquinas  speaks  even  of 
the  return  of  accursed  inmates  of  hell,  for  the  purpose  of 
terrifying  and  converting  criminals  in  this  world.  The 
"Encyclopedia  of  Catholic  Theology"  (iv.  p.  489)  states 
that "  although  the  theory  of  ghosts  has  never  become 
a  dogma  of  the  Holy  Church,  it  has  ever  maintained 
itself,  and  existed  in  the  days  of  Christ,  who  did  not 
condemn  it,  when  it  was  mentioned  in  his  presence." 
(St.  Matt.  xiv.  26 ;  St.  Luke  xxiv.  37.) 

Calmet,  the  well-known  Benedictine  Abbot  of  Senou, 
in  Lorraine,  who  was  one  of  the  most  renowned  theo- 
logical writers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  says  (i.  17) : 
"  Apparitions  of  ghosts  would  be  more  readily  under- 
stood if  spirits  had  a  body  ;  but  the  Holy  Church  has  de- 
cided that  angels,  devils  and  the  spirits  of  the  departed 


158  MODERN    MAGIC. 

are  pure  immaterial  spirits.  Since  this  question  tran- 
scends our  mental  faculties,  we  must  submit  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Church,  which  cannot  err."  Another 
great  theologian,  the  German  Bengel,  on  the  contrary, 
assumed  that  "probably  the  apparitions  of  the  departed 
have  a  prescribed  limit  and  then  cease ;  they  continue 
probably  as  long  as  all  the  ties  between  body  and  soul 
are  not  fully  dissolved."  This  question  of  the  nature 
of  our  existence  during  the  time  immediately  following 
death,  is,  it  is  well  known,  one  of  the  most  vexed  of  our 
day,  for  while  most  divines  of  the  Protestant  Church 
assume  an  immediate  decision  of  our  eternal  fate,  others 
admit  the  probability  of  an  intermediate  state,  and  the 
Catholic  Church  has  its  well-known  probationary  state 
in  purgatory.  It  may  as  well  be  stated  here  at  once 
that  the  whole  theory  of  ghosts  is  admissible  only  if  we 
assume  that  there  follows  after  death  a  period  during 
which  the  soul  undergoes,  not  an  immediate  rupture, 
but  a  slow,  gradual  separation  from  its  body,  accom- 
panied by  a  similar  gradual  adaptation  to  its  new  mode 
of  existence.  Whether  the  spirit,  during  this  time, 
is  still  sufficiently  akin  to  earthy  substances  to  be  able 
to  clothe  itself  into  some  material  perceptible  to  the 
senses  of  living  men,  is  of  comparatively  little  impor- 
tance. The  idea  of  such  an  "  ethereal  body  "  is  very 
old,  and  has  never  ceased  to  be  entertained.  Thus,  in 
1306,  already  Guido  de  la  Tones,  who  died  in  Verona, 
appeared  during  eight  days  to  his  wife,  his  neighbors, 
and  a  number  of  devout  priests,  and  declared  in 


GHOSTS.  159 

answer  to  their  questions  that  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted possessed  the  power  to  clothe  themselves  with 
air,  and  thus  to  become  perceptible  to  living  beings. 
Bayle  also,  in  his  article  on  Spinoza  (note  2),  advo- 
cates the  possibility,  at  least,  of  physical  effects  being 
produced  by  agents  whose  presence  we  are  not  able  to 
perceive  by  the  use  of  our  ordinary  senses.  Even  so 
eminently  practical  a  mind  as  Lessing's  was  bewildered 
by  the  difficulties  surrounding  this  question,  and  he 
declared  that  "  here  his  wits  were  at  an  end." 

Another  great  German  writer,  Goerres,  in  his  "  Chris- 
tian Mystic  "  (iii.  p.  307),  not  only  admits  the  existence 
of  ghosts,  but  explains  them  as  "the  higher  prototypal 
form  of  man  freed  from  the  earthy  form,  the  spectrum 
relieved  of  its  envelope,  which  can  be  present  wherever 
it  chooses  within  the  prescribed  limits  of  its  domain." 
This  view  is,  however,  not  supported  by  the  experience 
of  those  who  believe  they  have  seen  ghosts;  for  the 
latter  appear  only  occasionally  in  a  higher,  purified 
form,  resembling  ethereal  beings,  as  a  mere  whitish 
vapor  or  a  shape  formed  of  faint  light ;  by  far  more 
generally  they  are  seen  in  the  form  and  even  the  cos- 
tume of  their  earthy  existence.  The  only  evidence  of 
really  supernatural  or  magic  powers  accompanying 
such  phenomena  consists  in  the  ineffable  dread  which  is 
apt  to  oppress  the  heart  and  to  cause  intense  bodily  suf- 
fering ;  in  the  cold  chill  which  invariably  precedes  the 
apparition,  and  in  the  profound  and  exquisitely  painful 
emotion  which  is  never  again  forgotten  throughout  life. 


160  MODERX    MAGIC. 

As  yet,  the  subject  has  been  so  little  studied  by  can- 
did inquiries,  that  there  are  but  a  few  facts  which  can 
be  mentioned  as  fully  established.  The  form  and  shape 
under  which  ghosts  appear,  are  the  result  of  the  imagi- 
nation of  the  ghost  seer  only,  whether  he  beholds  angels 
or  devils,  men  or  animals.  If  his  receptive  power  is 
highly  developed,  he  will  see  them  in  their  completeness, 
and  discern  even  the  minutest  details ;  weak  persons, 
on  the  other  hand,  perceive  nothing  more  than  a  faiut, 
luminous  or  whitish  appearance,  mere  fragmentary  and 
embryonic  visions.  These  powers  of  perception  may, 
however,  be  improved  by  practice,  and  those  who  see 
ghosts  frequently,  are  sure  to  discover  one  feature  after 
another,  until  the  whole  form  stands  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly before  their  mind's  eye.  The  ear  is  generally 
more  susceptible  than  the  eye  to  the  approach  of  ghosts, 
and  often  warns  the  mind  long  before  the  apparition  be- 
comes visible.  The  noises  heard  are  apt  to  be  vague  and 
ill  defined,  consisting  mainly  of  a  low  whispering  or 
restless  rustling,  a  strange  moving  to  and  fro,  or  the 
blowing  of  cold  air  in  various  directions.  Many  sounds, 
however,  are  so  peculiar,  that  they  are  never  heard  ex- 
cept in  connection  with  ghosts,  and  hence,  baffle  all 
description.  It  need  not  be  added,  that  the  great  major- 
ity of  such  sounds  also  exist  only  in  the  mind  of  the 
hearer,  but  as  the  latter  is,  in  his  state  of  excitement, 
fully  persuaded  that  he  hears  them,  they  are  to  him  as 
real  as  if  they  existed  outside  of  his  being.  Nor  are 
they  always  confined  to  the  ghost  seer.  On  the  contrary, 


GHOSTS.  101 

the  hearing  of  such  sounds  is  as  contagions  as  the  see- 
ing of  such  sights;  and  not  only  men  are  thus  affected, 
and  see  and  hear  what  others  experience,  bnt  even  the 
higher  animals,  horses  and  dogs,  share  in  this  suscepti- 
bility. When  ghosts  appear  to  speak,  the  voice  is  almost 
always  engastrimantic,  that  is,  the  ghost  seer  produces 
the  words  himself,  in  a  state  of  ecstatic  unconsciousness, 
and  probably  by  a  kind  of  instinctive  ventriloquism. 
To  these  phenomena  of  sight  and  hearing  must  be  added, 
thirdly,  the  occasional  violent  moving  about  of  heavy 
substances.  Furniture  seems  to  change  its  place,  pon- 
derous objects  disappear  entirely,  or  the  whole  surround- 
ing scene  assumes  a  new  order  and  arrangement.  These 
phenomena,  as  far  as  they  really  exist,  must  be  ascribed 
to  higher,  as  yet  unexplained  powers,  and  suggest  the 
view  entertained  by  many  writers  on  the  subject,  that 
disembodied  spirits,  as  they  are  freed  from  the  mechani- 
cal laws  of  nature,  possess  also  the  power  to  suspend 
them  in  everything  with  which  they  come  in  contact. 
The  last  feature  in  ghost-seeing,  which  is  essential,  is 
the  cold  shudder,  the  ineffable  dread,  which  falls  upon 
poor  mortal  man,  at  the  moment  when  he  is  brought 
into  contact  with  an  unknown  world.  Already  Job 
said:  "Fear  came  upon  me  and  trembling,  which  made 
all  my  bones  to  shake.  Then  a  spirit  passed  before  my 
face  ;  the  hair  of  my  flesh  stood  up  "  (iv.  14, 15).  This 
sense  of  vague,  and  yet  almost  intolerable  dread,  resem- 
bles the  agony  of  the  dying  man  ;  it  is  perfectly  natural, 
since  the  seeing  of  ghosts,  that  is,  of  disembodied  spirits, 


162  MODEEX    MAGIC. 

can  only  become  possible  by  the  more  or  less  complete 
suspension  of  the  ordinary  life  in  the  flesh.  For  a  mo- 
ment, all  bodily  functions  are  suspended,  the  activity  of 
the  brain  ceases,  and  consciousness  itself  is  lost  as  in  a 
fit  of  fainting.  This  rarely  happens  without  a  brief 
instinctive  struggle,  and  the  final  victory  of  an  unseen 
and  unknown  power,  which  deprives  the  mind  of  its 
habitual  mastery  over  the  body,  is  necessarily  accom- 
panied by  intense  pain  and  overwhelming  anguish. 

Well-authenticated  cases  of  the  appearance  of  spirits 
of  departed  persons  are  mentioned  in  the  earliest  writ- 
ings. Valerius  Maximus  relates  in  graphic  words  the 
experience  of  the  poet  Simonides,  who  was  about  to 
enter  a  vessel  for  the  purpose  of  undertaking  a  long 
journey  with  some  of  his  friends,  when  he  discovered  a 
dead  body  lying  unburied  on  the  sea-shore.  Shocked 
by  the  impiety  of  the  unknown  man's  friends,  he  delay- 
ed his  departure  to  give  to  the  corpse  a  decent  funeral. 
During  the  following  night,  the  spirit  of  this  man  ap- 
peared to  him  and  advised  him  not  to  sail  on  the  next 
day.  He  obeys  the  warning;  his  friends  leave  without 
him,  and  perish  miserably  in  a  great  tempest.  Deeply 
moved  by  his  sad  loss,  but  equally  grateful  for  his  own 
miraculous  escape,  he  erected  to  the  memory  of  his  un- 
known friend  a  noble  monument  in  verses,  unmatched 
in  beauty  and  pathos.  Phlegon,  also,  the  freedman  of 
the  Emperor  Hadrian,  has  left  us  in  his  work,  De  Mi- 
rabilibus,  one  of  the  most  touching  instances  of  such 
ghost-seeing;  it  is  the  well-known  story  of  Machates 


GHOSTS.  163 

and  Pbilimion,  which  Goethe  reproduced  in  his  "Bride 
of  Corinth."  Xor  must  we  forget  the  numerous  exam- 
ples of  visions  in  dreams,  by  which  the  Almighty  chose 
to  reveal  His  will  to  his  beloved  among  the  chosen  pep- 
pie — a  series  of  apparitions,  which  the  Church  has  taken 
care  to  continue  during  the  earlier  ages,  in  almost  un- 
broken succession  from  saint  to  saint.  Pagans  were 
converted  by  such  revelations,  martyrs  were  comforted, 
the  wounded  healed,  and  even  an  Emperor,  Constantine, 
cured  of  leprosy,  by  the  appearance  of  the  two  apostles, 
Peter  and  Paul. 

The  truth,  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  such  ap- 
pearances, is  probably,  that  ghostly  disturbances  are 
uniformly  the  acts  of  men,  but  of  men  who  have  ceased 
for  a  time  to  be  free  agents,  and  who  have,  for  reasons 
to  be  explained  presently,  acquired  exceptional  powers. 
Thus,  a  famous  jurist,  Counselor  Hellfeld,  in  Jena,  was 
one  evening  on  the  point  of  signing  the  death  warrant 
of  a  cavalry  soldier.  The  subject  had  deeply  agitated 
his  mind  for  days,  and  before  seizing  his  pen,  he  invoked, 
as  was  his  custom  in  such  cases,  the  "  aid  of  the  Al- 
mighty through  His  holy  spirit."  At  that  moment — it 
was  an  hour  before  midnight — he  hears  heavy  blows  fall 
upon  his  window,  which  sound  as  if  the  panes  were 
struck  with  a  riding-whip.  His  clerk  also  hears  the 
blows  distinctly,  and  begins  to  tremble  violently.  This 
apparent  accident  induces  the  judge  to  delay  his  action  ; 
he  devotes  the  next  day  to  a  careful  re-perusal  of  the 
evidence,  and  is  now  led  to  the  conviction  that  the  crime 


164  MODERN    MAGIC. 

deserves  only  a  minor  punishment.  Ere  the  year  bus 
closed,  another  criminal  is  caught,  and  volunteers  the 
confession  that  he  was  the  perpetrator  of  the  crime  for 
which  the  soldier  was  punished.  In  that  solemn  mo- 
ment, it  was,  of  course,  only  the  judge's  own  mind, 
deeply  moved  and  worn  out  by  painful  work,  which 
warned  him  in  a  symbolic  manner  not  to  be  precipitate, 
and  the  very  fact  that  the  blows  sounded  as  if  they  had 
been  produced  by  a  whip  proved  his  unconscious  asso- 
ciation of  the  noise  with  the  cavalry  soldier.  And  yet 
he  and  his  clerk  believed  and  solemnly  affirmed,  that 
they  had  heard  the  mysterious  blows!  This  dualism, 
which,  as  it  were,  divides  man  into  two  beings,  one  of 
whom  follows  and  watches  the  other,  while  both  are 
unconscious  of  their  identity,  is  the  magic  element  in 
these  phenomena.  This  unconsciousness,  proving — as 
in  dreams — the  inactivity  of  our  reason,  produces  the 
natural  effect,  that  we  fancy  all  ghostly  appearances  are 
foolish,  wanton  and  wicked.  The  fact  is,  moreover  that 
they  almost  always  proceed  from  a  more  or  less  diseased 
or  disturbed  mind,  and  acquire  importance  only  in  so 
far  as  it  is  our  duty  here  also  to  eliminate  truth  from 
error.  Thus  only  can  we  hope  to  counteract  their  mis- 
chievous tendency,  and  to  prevent  still  stronger  delu- 
sions from  obtaining  a  mastery  over  weak  minds.  This 
is  the  purpose  of  a  club  formed  in  London  in  1869,  the 
members  of  which  find  amusement  and  useful  employ- 
ment in  investigating  all  cases  of  haunted  houses  and 
other  ghostly  appearances. 


GHOSTS.  165 

That  the  belief  in  ghostly  disturbances  is  not  a  mod- 
ern error,  we  see  from  St.  Augustine,  who  already  men- 
tions the  farm  of  a  certain  Hasparius  as  disquieted  by 
loud  noises  till  the  prayer  of  a  pious  priest  restored 
peace.  The  Catholic  Church  has  a  St.  Caesarius,  who 
purified  in  like  manner  the  house  of  the  physician 
Elpidius  in  Eavenna,  which  was  filled  with  evil  spirits 
and  only  admitted  the  owner  after  he  had  passed 
through  a  shower  of  stones.  Another  saint,  Hubertus, 
was  himself  annoyed  by  ghosts  in  his  residence  at 
Camens,  and  never  succeeded  in  obtaining  peace  till  he 
died,  in  958.  Wicked  or  interested  men  take,  of  course, 
but  too  readily  advantage  of  the  credulity  of  men  and 
employ  similar  disturbances  for  personal  purposes;  snch 
was  the  case  with  the  ghosts  that  haunted  the  Council 
house  in  Constance  and  the  palace  at  Woodstock  in 
Cromwell's  time.  The  case  of  a  scrupulously  consci- 
entious Protestant  minister  in  Germany,  which  created 
in  1719  a  great  excitement  throughout  the  empire,  is 
well  calculated  to  show  the  real  nature  of  a  number  of 
such  ghostly  disturbances.  He  had  been  called  to  the 
death-bed  of  a  notorious  sinner,  a  woman,  who  desired 
at  the  last  moment  to  receive  the  comforts  of  religion. 
Unfortunately  he  reached  her  house  too  late;  she  was 
already  unconscious,  and  died  in  his  presence,  as  he 
thought,  unreconciled  with  her  God  and  with  himself, 
whom  she  had  often  insulted  and  cursed  in  life.  Deeply 
disturbed  he  returned  home,  and  after  having  dwelt 
upon  the  painful  subject  with  intense  anxiety  for  sev- 


166  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

eral  days  he  began  to  hear  footsteps  in  his  house.  Grad- 
ually they  became  more  frequent;  then  he  distinguished 
them  clearly  as  a  woman's  step,  and  at  last  they  were 
accompanied  by  the  dragging  of  a  gown.  Watches 
were  set,  sand  was  strewn,  dogs  were  kept  in  the  house 
— but  all  in  vain ;  no  trace  of  man  was  found,  and  still 
the  sounds  continued.  The  unhappy  man  prayed  clay 
and  night,  and  the  noise  disappeared  for  a  fortnight. 
When  he  ceased  praying  they  returned,  louder  than 
ever.  He  sternly  bids  the  ghost  desist,  and  behold !  the 
ghost  obeys.  When  he  asks  if  it  is  a  good  angel  or  a 
demon,  no  answer  is  given  ;  but  the  question :  Art  thou 
the  Devil  ?  finds  an  immediate  reply  in  rapid  steps  up 
and  down  the  house — for  the  poor  man's  mind  was 
filled  with  the  idea  that  such  things  can  be  done  only 
by  the  Evil  One.  At  last  he  summons  all  his  remain- 
ing energy  and  in  a  tone  of  command  he  orders  the 
ghost  to  depart  and  never  to  reappear.  From  that  mo- 
ment all  disturbances  cease — and  very  naturally,  for  the 
haunted,  disturbed  man,  had  fully  recovered  the  com- 
mand over  himself;  the  dualism  that  produced  all  the 
spectral  phenomena  had  ceased,  and  the  restored  mind 
accomplished  its  own  cure.  As  these  phenomena  are 
thus  produced  from  within,  it  appears  perfectly  natural 
also  that  they  should  be  reported  as  occurring  most  fre- 
quently in  the  month  of  November.  Religious  minds 
and  superstitious  dispositions  have  brought  this  fact 
into  a  quaint  connection  with  the  approach  of  Advent- 
time,  but  the  cause  is  probably  purely  physical ;  the 


GHOSTS.  107 

dark  and  dismal  month  with  its  dense  fogs  emblematic 
of  coming  winter  predisposes  the  mind  to  gloomy 
thoughts  and  renders  it  less  capable  of  resisting  atmo- 
spheric influences. 

A  very  general  belief  ascribes  such  disturbances,  un- 
der the  name  of  "haunted  houses,"  to  the  souls  of 
deceased  persons  who  can  find  no  rest  beyond  the 
grave.  The  series  of  ghost  stories  based  upon  this  sup- 
position begins  with  the  account  of  Suetonius  and  con- 
tinues unbroken  to  our  day.  Then  it  was  the  spirit  of 
Caligula,  which  could  not  be  quiet  so  long  as  his  body, 
which  had  only  been  half  burned,  remained  in  that  dis- 
graceful condition.  Night  after  night  his  house  and 
his  garden  were  visited  by  strange  apparitions,  till  the 
palace  was  destroyed  by  fire  and  the  emperor's  sisters 
rendered  the  last  honors  to  his  remains. 

Thus  the  disposition  of  modern  inquiries  to  trace 
back  all  popular  accounts  of  great  events,  all  familiar 
anecdotes  and  fairy  tales,  and  even  proverbs  and  max- 
ims, to  the  ancients,  has  been  fully  gratified  in  this  case 
also.  They  were  not  only  known  to  antiquity,  but 
formed  a  staple  of  popular  tales.  Thus  the  younger 
Pliny  tells  us  one  which  he  had  frequently  heard  related. 
At  Athens  there  stood  a  large,  comfortable  mansion, 
which,  however,  was  ill-reputed.  Night  after  night,  it 
was  said,  chains  were  heard  rattling,  first  at  a  distance, 
and  then  coming  nearer,  till  a  pale,  haggard  shape  was 
seen  approaching,  wearing  beard  and  hair  in  long  dis- 
hevelled locks  and  clanking  the  chains  it  bore  on  hands 


168  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

and  feet.  The  occupants  of  the  house  could  not  sleep, 
were  terrified,  sickened  and  died.  Thus  it  came  about 
that  the  fine  building  stood  empty,  year  after  year,  and 
was  at  last  offered  for  sale  at  a  low  price.  About  that 
time  the  philosopher  Athenodorus  came  to  Athens  and 
saw  the  notice;  he  had  his  suspicions  aroused  by  the 
small  sum  demanded  for  the  house,  inquired  about  the 
causes  and  rented  the  house.  For  he  was  a  man  of 
courage  and  meant  to  fathom  the  mystery. 

On  the  evening  of  the  first  day  he  dismissed  his  serv- 
ants and  remained  alone  in  the  front  room,  writing  and 
occupying  himself,  purposely,  with  grave  and  abstract 
questions,  so  as  to  allow  no  opening  for  his  imagination. 
As  soon  as  all  was  quiet  around  him  the  clanking  and 
rattling  of  chains  begins ;  but  he  pays  no  heed  and  con- 
tinues to  write.  The  noise  approaches  and  enters  the 
room ;  as  he  looks  up  he  sees  the  well-known  weird 
shape  before  him.  It  beckons  him,  but  he  demands 
patience  and  writes  on  as  before;  then  the  ghost  shakes 
his  chains  over  his  head  and  beckons  once  more  imper- 
atively. Now  he  rises,  takes  his  lamp,  and  follows  his 
visitor  through  the  passages  into  a  court-yard,  where 
the  ghost  disappears.  The  philosopher  pulls  up  some 
grass  on  the  spot  and  marks  the  place.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  he  appeals  to  the  authorities  to  cause  the  place 
to  be  dug  up ;  and  when  this  is  done,  the  bones  of  an  old 
man,  loaded  with  heavy  chains,  are  found.  From  that 
time  the  house  was  left  undisturbed,  as  if  the  departed 
had  only  desired  to  induce  some  intelligent  person  to 


GHOSTS.  ]  69 

bestow  upon  him  the  honors  of  a  decent  burial,  which 
among  the  ancients  were  held  all-important.  ("  Letter 
to  Sera,"  1.  vii.  27.)  The  story  told  by  Lucian  ("Philo- 
pseudes,"  xxx.)  is  almost  identical  with  that  of  Pliny. 
Here,  also,  a  house  in  Corinth,  once  belonging  to 
Eubatides,  was  left  unoccupied,  for  the  same  reasons, 
and  began  to  decay,  when  the  Pythagorean,  Arignotus, 
determined  to  ascertain  the  reality  of  these  nightly 
appearances.  He  goes  there  after  midnight,  places  his 
lamp  on  the  floor,  lies  down  and  begins  to  read.  Soon 
a  horrible  monster  appears,  black  as  night,  and  changes 
from  one  disgusting  beast  into  another,  till  at  last  it 
yields  to  the  stern  command  of  the  intrepid  philoso- 
pher and  disappears  in  a  corner  of  the  large  room. 
When  day  breaks,  workmen  are  brought  in  to  take  up 
the  floor ;  a  skeleton  is  found  and  decently  interred,  and 
from  that  day  the  house  is  left  to  its  usual  peace  and 
quiet.  ("Epist."  1.  vii.  27.)  Plutarch,  also,  in  his  "Life 
of  Cimon,"  states  that  the  baths  at  Chseronea  were 
haunted  by  the  ghost  of  Damon,  who  had  there  found 
his  death;  the  doors  were  walled  up  and  the  \  lace  for- 
saken, but  up  to  his  day  no  relief  had  been  devised, 
and  fearful  sights  and  terrible  sounds  continued  to  ren- 
der the  place  uninhabitable. 

Nor  are  Eastern  lands  unacquainted  with  this  popu- 
lar belief.  Egypt  has  its  haunted  houses  in  nearly 
every  village,  and  in  Cairo  there  are  a  great  number, 
while  in  Tunis  whole  streets  were  abandoned  to  ghostly 
occupants.  In  Nankin  a  great  mandarin  owned  a 

8 


170  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

spacious  building  which  he  could  neither  occupy  him- 
self nor  rent  to  others,  because  of  its  evil  reputation. 
At  last  the  Jesuit  Riccius,  a  missionary,  offered  to  take 
it  for  his  order;  the  fathers  moved  into  it,  conquered 
the  ghosts  by  some  means  best  known  to  themselves, 
and  not  only  obtained  a  good  house  but  great  prestige 
with  the  natives  for  their  triumph  over  the  spirits  (C. 
Hasart.  Hist.  Eccles.  Sinica,  p.  4,  ch.  iii.). 

The  same  singular  belief  is  not  only  met  with  in 
every  age  and  among  the  most  enlightened  nations,  but 
even  in  our  own  century  a  similar  case  occurred  and  is 
well  authenticated.  The  Duke  Charles  Alexander  of 
Wurtemberg  of  unholy  memory,  died  at  the  town  of 
Ludwigsburg,  perhaps  by  murder.  For  years  afterwards 
the  palace  was  the  scene  of  most  violent  disturbances ; 
even  the  sentinels,  powerful  and  well-armed  men,  were 
bodily  lifted  up  and  thrown  across  the  parapet  of  the 
terrace.  At  other  times  the  whole  building  appeared  to 
be  filled  with  people ;  doors  were  opened  and  closed, 
lights  were  seen  in  the  apartments  and  dim  figures  flit- 
ted to  and  fro.  Large  detachments  of  troops  under 
the  command  of  officers,  specially  selected  for  the  pur- 
pose, were  ordered  to  march  through  the  palace  more 
than  once,  on  such  occasions,  but  never  discovered  a 
trace  of  human  agency  (Kerner.  Bilder.p.  143).  Even 
the  great  Frederick  of  Prussia,  a  man  whose- thoroughly 
skeptical  mind  might  surely  be  supposed  to  have  been, 
free  from  all  superstition,  was  once  forced  to  admit  his 
inability  to  explain  by  natural  causes  an  occurrence  of 


GHOSTS.  I  T  1 

the  kind.  A  Catholic  priest  in  Silesia  lost  his  cook, 
who  had  been  specially  dear  to  him ;  her  ghost — as  it 
was  called — continued  to  haunt  the  house,  and,  most 
strange  of  all,  not  in  order  to  disturb  its  peace,  but  to 
perform  the  usual  domestic  service.  The  floors  were 
swept,  the  fires  made,  and  linen  washed,  all  by  invisible 
hands.  Frederick,  who  accidentally  heard  of  the  mat- 
ter, ordered  a  captain  and  a  lieutenant  of  his  guard  to 
investigate  it;  they  were  received  by  the  beating  of 
drums  and  then  allowed  to  witness  the  same  household 
performances.  When  the  grim  old  captain  broke  out 
in  a  fearful  curse,  he  received  a  severe  box  on  the  ears 
and  retreated  utterly  discomfited.  Upon  his  report  to 
the  king  the  house  was  pulled  down  and  a  new  parson- 
age erected  at  some  distance  from  the  place.  The  oc- 
currence is  mentioned  in  many  historical  works  and 
quoted  without  comment  even  by  the  great  historian 
Menzel.  Another  striking  case  of  a  somewhat  different 
character,  was  fully  reported  to  the  Colonial  Office  in 
London.  The  scene  was  a  large  vault  in  the  island  of 
Barbadoes,  hewn  out  of  the  live  rock  and  accessible 
only  through  a  huge  iron  door,  fastened  in  the  usual 
way  by  strong  bolts  and  a  lock,  the  key  to  which  was 
kept  at  the  Government  House.  During  the  year  1819 
it  was  opened  four  times  for  purposes  of  interment,  and 
each  time  it  was  observed  that  all  the  coffins  in  the 
vault  had  been  violently  thrown  about.  The  Governor, 
Lord  Combermere,  went  himself,  accompanied  by  his 
staff  and  a  number  of  officers,  to  examine  the  place,  and 


172  MODERN    MAGIC. 

found  the  vault  itself  in  perfect  order  and  without  a 
trace  of  violence.  He  ordered  the  door  to  be  closed 
with  cement  and  placed  his  seal  upon  the  latter,  an  ex- 
ample followed  by  nearly  all  the  bystanders.  Eight 
months  later,  the  28th  of  April,  1820,  he  had  the  vault 
opened  in  the  presence  of  a  large  company  of  friends 
and  within  sight  of  a  crowd  of  several  thousands.  The 
cement  and  the  seals  were  found  to  be  perfect  and  un- 
injured; the  sand  which  had  been  carefully  strewn  over 
the  floor  of  the  vault  showed  no  footmark  or  sign 
whatever,  but  the  coffins  were  again  thrown  about  in 
great  confusion.  One,  of  such  weight  that  it  required 
eight  men  to  move  it,  was  found  standing  upright,  and 
a  child's  coffin  had  been  violently  dashed  against  the 
wall.  A  carefully  drawn  up  report  with  accompanying 
drawings  was  sent  home,  but  no  explanation  has  ever 
been  discovered.  Scientific  men  were  disposed  to  as- 
cribe the  disturbance  to  earthquakes,  but  the  annals  of 
the  island  report  none  during  those  years;  there  re- 
mains, however,  the  possibility  that  the  examination  of 
the  vault  was  after  all  imperfect,  and  that  the  sea  might 
have  had  access  to  it  through  some  hidden  cleft.  In 
that  case  an  unusually  high  tide  might  very  well  have 
been  the  invisible  agent. 

Even  the  Indian  of  our  far  West  cherishes  the  same 
superstitious  belief,  and  in  his  lodge  on  the  slopes  of  the 
Eocky  Mountains,  he  hears  mysterious  knockings.  To 
him  they  are  the  kindly  warning  of  a  spirit,  whom  he 
calls  the  Great  Bear,  which  announces  some  great 
calamity. 


GHOSTS.  17:) 

That  certain  localities  seem  to  be  frequented  by  ghosts, 
that  is,  to  be  haunted,  with  special  preference,  must  be 
ascribed  to  the  contagious  nature  of  such  mental  affec- 
tions as  generally  produce  these  phenomena.  This  is, 
moreover,  by  no  means  limited,  as  is  commonly  believ- 
ed, to  Northern  regions,  where  frequent  fogs  and  dense 
mists,  short  days  and  long  nights,  together  with  sombre 
surroundings  and  awe-inspiring  sounds  in  nature,  com- 
bine to  predispose  the  mind  to  expect  supernatural  ap- 
pearances. Thus,  for  instance,  fair  Suabia,  one  of  the 
most  favored  portions  of  Germany,  sweet  and  smiling  in 
its  fertile  plains,  and  by  no  means  specially  gruesome, 
even  in  the  most  secluded  parts  of  the  Black  Forest, 
teems  with  haunted  localities.  Dr.  Kerner's  home, 
Weinsberg,  enjoyed  ghostly  visits  almost  in  every  house ; 
the  neighborhood  was  similarly  favored,  and  even  in  the 
open  country  there  are  countless  peasants'  cottages  and 
noblemen's  seats,  which  are  frequented  by  ghosts.  One 
of  the  most  attractive  estates  in  "Wurtemberg  was  pur- 
chased in  1815  by  a  distinguished  soldier,  whose  daunt- 
less courage  had  caused  him  to  rise  rapidly  from  grade 
to  grade  under  the  eye  of  the  great  Napoleon.  Soon 
after  his  arrival  his  wife  was  aroused  every  night  by  a 
variety  of  mysterious  noises,  rising  from  weird,  low 
winnings  to  terrific  explosions.  •  The  colonel  also  heard 
them,  and  tried  his  best  to  ascertain  the  cause.  Night 
after  night,  moreover,  the  great  castle  clock,  which  went 
perfectly  well  all  day  long,  struck  at  wrong  hours,  and 
was  found  all  wrong  in  the  morning.  The  disturbing 


174  MODERN    MAGIC. 

powers  soon  became  personal ;  for  one  night,  when  the 
colonel,  sitting  at  the  supper  table,  and  hearing  the 
usual  sounds,  said  angrily,  "  I  wish  the  ghost  would  make 
himself  known  ! "  a  fearful  explosion  took  place,  knock- 
ing down  the  speaker  and  bringing  all  the  inmates  of 
the  house  to  the  room.  Search  was  immediately  insti- 
tuted, and  the  main  weight  of  the  great  clock  was  dis- 
covered to  be  missing.  A  new  weight  had  to  be  ordered, 
and  only  long  afterwards  the  old  one  was  found  wedged 
in  between  two  floors  above  the  clock.  Xor  were  the 
disturbances  confined  to  the  castle :  at  midnight  the 
horses  in  the  stable  became  restless  and  almost  wild, 
tearing  themselves  loose  and  sweating  till  they  were 
covered  with  white  foam.  One  night  the  colonel  went 
to  the  stable,  mounted  his  favorite  charger,  who  had 
borne  him  in  the  din  and  roar  of  many  a  battle,  and 
awaited  the  striking  of  midnight.  Instantly  the  poor 
animal  began  to  tremble,  then  to  rear  and  kick  furiously, 
until  his  master,  famous  as  a  good  horseman,  could  hold 
him  in  no  longer,  and  was  carried  around  the  stable  by  the 
maddened  horse  so  as  to  imperil  his  life.  After  an  hour, 
the  poor  creatures  began  to  calm  down,  but  stood  trem- 
bling in  all  their  limbs ;  the  colonel's  own  horse  suc- 
cumbed to  the  trial  and  died  in  the  morning.  A  new 
stable  had  to  be  built,  which  remained  free  from  disturb- 
ances. 

By  far  the  most  remarkable  and,  strange  enough,  at 
the  same  time  the  best  authenticated  of  all  accounts 
of  disturbances  caused  by  recently  departed  friends  is 


GHOSTS.  1 75 

found  in  a  memoir  written  by  the  sufferer  herself,  and 
addressed  to  the  famous  Baron  Grimm  under  the  pseu- 
donym of  Mr.  Meis.  Through  the  latter  the  story 
reached  Goethe,  who  at  once  appropriated  it  in  all  its 
details,  and  merely  changing  the  name  of  the  principal 
to  Antonelli,  inserted  it  in  his  "Conversations  of 
German  Emigrants."  The  same  event  is  fully  related 
in  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  Margravine  of  Anspach  "  as  "  a 
story  which  at  that  time  created  a  great  sensation  in 
Paris,  and  excited  universal  curiosity."  But  even 
greater  authority  yet  is  given  to  this  account  by  the 
fact  that  it  was  officially  recorded  in  the  police  reports 
of  Paris,  from  which  it  has  been  frequently  extracted 
for  publication.  Mdlle.  Hippolyte  Clairon  makes  sub- 
stantially the  following  statements:  "In  the  year  1743 
my  youth  and  my  success  on  the  stage  procured  for  me 
mucli  attention  from  young  fops  and  elderly  profligates, 
among  whom,  however,  I  found  frequently  a  few  better 
men.  One  of  these,  who  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
me,  was  a  Mr.  S.,  the  son  of  a  merchant  from  Brittany, 
about  thirty  years  old,  fair  of  features,  well  made,  and 
gifted  with  some  talent  for  poetry.  His  conversation 
and  his  manners  showed  that  he  had  received  a  superior 
education,  and  that  he  was  accustomed  to  good  society, 
while  his  reserve  and  bashfulness,  which  prevented  him 
from  allowing  his  attachment  to  be  seen,  made  him  all 
the  dearer  to  me.  When  I  had  ascertained  his  discre- 
tion, I  permitted  him  to  visit  me,  and  gave  him  to 
understand  that  he  might  call  himself  my  friend.  He 


176  MODERN   MAGIC. 

took  this  patiently,  seeing  that  I  was  still  free  and  not 
without  tender  feelings,  and  hoping  that  time  might 
inspire  me  with  a  warmer  affection.  Who  knows  what. 
might  have  happened!  But  I  used  to  question  him 
closely,  both  from  curiosity  and  from  prudence,  and 
his  candid  answers  destroyed  his  prospects  ;  for  he  con- 
fessed that,  dissatisfied  with  his  modest  station  in  life, 
he  had  sold  his  property  in  order  to  live  in  Paris  in 
better  society,  and  I  did  not  like  this.  Men  who  are 
ashamed  of  themselves  are  not,  it  seems  to  me,  cal- 
culated to  inspire  others  with  respect.  Besides,  he  was 
of  a  melancholy  and  dissatisfied  temper,  knowing  men 
too  well,  as  he  said,  not  to  despise  and  avoid  them.  He 
intended  to  visit  no  one  but  myself,  and  to  induce  me 
also  to  see  no  one  but  him.  You  may  imagine  how  I 
disliked  such  ideas.  I  might  have  been  held  by  gar- 
lands, but  did  not  wish  to  be  bound  with  chains. 
From  that  moment  I  saw  that  I  must  disappoint  his 
hopes,  and  gradually  withdrew  from  his  society.  This 
caused  him  a  severe  illness,  during  which  I  showed 
him  all  possible  attention.  But  my  steady  refusal  to 
do  more  for  him  only  deepened  the  wound,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  poor  young  man  had  the  misfortune  of 
being  stripped  of  nearly  all  his  property  by  his  faithless 
brother,  to  whom  he  had  intrusted  the  sale  of  all  he 
owned,  so  that  he  saw  himself  compelled  to  accept 
small  sums  from  me  for  the  payment  of  his  daily  food 
and  the  necessary  medicines.' 

"  At  last  he  recovered  part  of  his  property,  but  his 


GHOSTS.  177 

health  was  ruined ;  and  as  I  thought  I  was  rendering 
him  a  real  service  by  widening  the  distance  between  us, 
1  refused  henceforth  to  receive  his  letters  and  his  visits. 
"  Thus  matters  went  on  for  two  years  and  a  half,  when 
he  died.  He  had  sent  for  me,  wishing  to  enjoy  the 
happiness  of  seeing  me  once  more  in  his  last  moments, 
but  my  friends  would  not  allow  me  to  go.  He  had  no 
one  near  him  except  his  servants  and  an  old  lady,  who 
had  of  late  been  his  only  companion.  Our  lodgings 
were  far  apart:  his  near  the  Chaussee-d'Antin,  where 
only  a  few  houses  had  as  yet  been  built,  and  mine  near 
the  Abbey  of  St.  Martin.  My  daily  guests  were  an 
agent,  who  attended  to  all  my  professional  duties,  Mr. 
Pipelet,  well  known  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him, 
and  Rosely,  one  of  my  fellow-comedians,  a  kind  young 
man  full  of  wit  and  talent.  We  had  modest  little 
suppers,  but  we  were  merry  and  enjoyed  ourselves 
heartily.  One  evening  I  had  just  been  singing  several 
pretty  airs  which  seemed  to  delight  my  friends,  when 
the  clock  struck  eleven,  and  at  the  same  moment  an 
extremely  sharp  cry  was  heard.  Its  plaintive  sound 
and  long  duration  amazed  everybody;  I  fainted  away 
and  remained  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  an  hour  uncon- 
scious. 

"  My  agent  was  in  love  with  me  and  so  mad  with 
jealousy  that  when  I  recovered,  he  overwhelmed  me 
with  reproaches,  and  said  the  signals  for  my  interview 
were  rather  loud.  I  told  him  that  as  I  had  the  right 
to  receive  when  and  whom  I  chose,  no  signals  were 

9* 


178  MODERN    MAGIC. 

needed,  and  this  cry  had  surely  been  heart-rending 
enough  to  convince  him  that  it  announced  no  sweet 
moments.  My  paleness,  my  tremor,  which  lasted  for 
some  time,  my  tears  flowing  silently  and  almost  un- 
consciously, and  my  urgent  request  that  somebody  ' 
would  stay  up  with  me  during  the  night,  all  these 
signs  convinced  him  of  my  innocence.  My  friends  re- 
mained with  me,  discussing  the  fearful  cry,  and  de- 
termining finally  to  station  guards  around  the  house. 

"Nevertheless  the  dread  sound  was  repeated  night 
after  night ;  my  friends,  all  the  neighbors,  and  even  the 
policemen  who  were  stationed  near  us,  heard  it  dis- 
tinctly ;  it  seemed  to  be  uttered  immediately  under  my 
window,  where  nothing  could  ever  be  seen.  There  was 
no  doubt  entertained  as  to  the  person  for  whom  it  was 
intended,  for  whenever  I  supped  out,  no  cry  was  heard ; 
but  frequently  after  my  return,  when  I  entered  my 
room  and  inquired  about  it  of  my  mother  and  my 
servants,  it  suddenly  pierced  the  air  anew.  Once  the 
president  of  the  court,  at  whose  house  I  had  been 
entertained,  proposed  to  see  me  home  in  safety ;  at  the 
moment  when  he  wished  me  good-night  at  the  door, 
the  cry  was  heard  right  between  us,  and  the  poor  man 
had  to  be  lifted  into  his  carriage  more  dead  than 
alive. 

"Another  time  my  young  companion,  Eosely,  a  clever, 
witty  man,  who  believed  in  nothing  in  heaven  or  on 
earth,  was  riding  with  me  in  my  carriage  on  our  way 
to  a  friend  who  lived  in  a  distant  part  of  the  city.  We 


GHOSTS.  179 

were  discussing  the  fearful  torment  to  which  I  was 
exposed,  and  he,  laughing  at  me,  at  last  declared  he 
would  never  believe  it  unless  he  heard  it  with  his  own 
ears,  and  defied  me  to  summon  my  lover.  I  do  not 
know  how  I  came  to  yield,  but  instantly  the  cry  was 
repeated  three  times,  and  with  overwhelming  fierceness. 
When  our  carriage  reached  the  house,  the  servants 
found  us  both  lying  unconscious  on  the  cushions,  and 
had  to  summon  assistance  before  we  recovered.  After 
this  I  heard  nothing  for  several  months,  and  began  to 
hope  that  all  was  over.  But  I  was  sadly  mistaken. 

"  The  members  of  the  king's  troop  of  comedians  had 
all  been  ordered  to  appear  at  Versailles,  in  honor  of  the 
dauphin's  marriage,  and  as  we  were  to  spend  three  days 
there,  lodgings  had  been  provided.  It  so  happened, 
however,  that  a  friend  of  mine,  Mme.  Grand val,  had  been 
forgotten,  and  seeing  her  trouble,  I  at  last  offered  her, 
towards  three  o'clpck  in  the  morning,  to  share  my  room, 
in  which  there  were  two  beds.  This  forced  me  to  take 
my  maid  into  my  own  bed,  and  as  she  was  in  the  act  of 
coming,  I  said  to  her:  'Here  we  are  at  the  end  of  the 
world,  the  weather  is  abominable,  and  the  cry  would  find 
it  hard  to  follow  us  here ! '  At  that  moment  it  resound- 
ed close  to  us ;  Mme.  Graudval  jumped  up  terribly 
frightened,  and  ran  through  the  whole  house,  waking 
everybody,  and  keeping  us  all  in  such  a  state  of  excite- 
ment that  not  an  eye  was  closed  the  whole  night.  Seven 
or  eight  days  later,  as  I  was  chatting  merrily  with  a 
number  of  friends,  at  the  striking  of  the  hour,  a  shot 


ISO  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

was  heard,  coming  apparently  through  my  window. 
We  all  heard  it  and  saw  the  fire,  but  the  pane  was  not 
broken.  Everybody  thought  at  once  of  an  attempt  to 
murder  me,  and  some  friends  hastened  instantly  to  the 
Chief  of  Police.  Men  were  immediately  sent  to  search 
the  houses  opposite,  and  for  several  days  and  nights  the 
street  was  strictly  guarded  by  a  number  of  soldiers ; 
my  own  house  was  searched  from  roof  to  cellar,  and 
friends  came  in  large  companies  to  assist  in  watchings : 
nevertheless,  the  shot  fell  night  after  night  at  the  same 
hour,  for  three  months,  with  unfailing  accuracy.  No 
clue  was  found  and  no  sign  was  seen  save  the  sound  of 
the  shot  and  the  sight  of  the  fire.  Daily  reports  of  the 
occurrence  were  sent  to  the  headquarters  of  the  police, 
new  measures  were  continually  devised  and  applied, 
but  the  authorities  were  baffled  as  well  as  all  who  tried 
to  fathom  the  mystery.  I  became  at  last  quite  accus- 
tomed to  the  disturbance,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  speak- 
ing of  it-as  the  doing  of  a  bon  (liable,  because  he  content- 
ed himself  so  long  a  time  with  jugglers'  tricks ;  but  one 
night  as  I  had  stepped  through  the  open  window  out  upon 
a  balcony,  and  was  standing  there  with  my  agent  by  my 
side,  the  shot  suddenly  fell  again  and  knocked  us  both 
back  into  the  room,  where  we  fell  down  as  if  dead.  "When 
we  recovered  our  consciousness,  we  got  up,  and  after 
some  hesitation,  confessed  to  each  other  that  our  ears 
had  been  severely  boxed,  his  on  the  right  side  and  mine 
on  the  left,  whereupon  we  gave  way  to  hearty  laughter. 
The  next  night  was  quiet,  but  on  the  following  day  I 


GHOSTS.  181 

was  riding  with  my  maid  to  a  friend's  house,  where  I 
had  been  invited  to  meet  some  acquaintances.  As  we 
passed  through  a  certain  part  of  the  city,  I  recognized 
the  houses  in  the  bright  moonlight,  and  said  jestingly  : 
'  This  looks  very  much  like  the  part  of  town  where 
poor  S.  used  to  live.'  At  the  same  moment  a  near 
church  clock  struck  eleven,  and  instantly  a  shot  was 
fired  at  us  from  one  of  the  buildings,  which  seemed  to 
pass  through  our  carriage.  The  coachman  thought  we 
had  been  attacked  by  robbers,  and  whipped  his  horses 
to  escape ;  I  knew  what  it  meant,  but  still  felt  thor- 
oughly frightened,  and  reached  the  house  in  a  state  lit- 
tle suited  for  social  enjoyment.  This  was,  however,  the 
last  time  my  unfortunate  friend  used  a  gun. 

"  In  place  of  the  firing  there  came  now  a  loud  clapping 
of  hands,  with  certain  modulations  and  repetitions. 
This  sound,  to  which  I  had  become  accustomed  on  the 
stage  by  the  kindness  of  my  friends,  did  not  disturb  me 
as  much  as  my  companions.  They  would  station  them- 
selves around  my  door  and  under  my  window ;  they 
heard  it  distinctly,  but  could  not  see  a  trace  of  any  per- 
son. I  do  not  remember  how  long  this  continued ;  but 
it  was  followed  by  the  singing  of  a  sweet,  almost  heav- 
enly melody,  which  began  at  the  upper  end  of  the  street 
and  gradually  swelled  till  it  reached  my  house,  where 
it  slowly  expired.  Then  the  disturbance  ceased  alto- 
gether. 

"  The  only  light  that  was  ever  thrown  upon  the  mys- 
tery came  from  an  old  lady  who  called  on  me  on  the 


182  MODEUX    MAGIC. 

pretext  of  wishing  to  see  my  house  which  I  had  offered 
for  reut.  I  was  very  much  struck  by  her  venerable  ap- 
pearance and  her  evident  emotion.  I  offered  her  a  chair 
and  sat  down  opposite  to  her,  but  was  for  some  time 
unable  to  say  a  word.  At  last  she  seemed  to  gather 
courage  and  told  me  that  she  had  long  wished  to  make 
my  acquaintance,  but  had  not  dared  to  come  so  long  as 
I  was  constantly  surrounded  by  hosts  of  friends  and  ad- 
mirers. At  last  she  had  happened  to  see  my  advertise- 
ment and  availed  herself  of  the  opportunity  in  order  to 
see  me — and  to  visit  my  house,  which  had  a  deep 
though  melancholy  interest  in  her  eyes.  I  guessed  at 
once  that  she  was  the  faithful  friend  who  alone  re- 
mained by  the  bedside  of  poor  S.,  when  he  was  pros- 
trated by  a  fatal  disease  and  refused  to  see  anybody 
else.  For  months,  she  now  told  me,  he  had  spoken  of 
nothing  save  of  myself,  looking  upon  me  now  as  an 
angel  and  now  as  a  demon,  but  utterly  unable  to  keep 
his  thoughts  from  dwelling  uninterruptedly  upon  the 
one  subject  which  filled  his  mind  and  his  heart  alike. 
I  tried  to  explain  to  the  old  lady  how  I  had  fully  appre- 
ciated his  good  qualities  and  noble  impulses,  finding  it, 
however,  impossible  to  fall  in  with  his  peculiar  views 
of  society  and  to  promise,  as  he  insisted  I  should  do,  to 
forsake  all  I  loved  for  the  purpose  of  living  writh  him  in 
loneliness  and  complete  retirement.  I  told  her,  also, 
that  when  he  sent  for  me  to  see  him  in  his  last  mo- 
ments, my  friends  prevented  my  going,  and  that  I  felt 
myself  that  the  sight  of  his  death  under  such  circum- 


GHOSTS.  183 

stances  would  have  been  dangerous  in  the  extreme  to 
my  peace  of  mind,  besides  being  utterly  useless  to  the 
dying  man.  She  admitted  the  force  of  my  reasoning, 
but  repeated  that  my  refusal  had  hastened  his  end  and 
deprived  him  at  the  last  moment  of  all  self-control.  In 
this  state  of  mind,  when  a  few  minutes  before  eleven, 
the  servant  had  entered  and  assured  him  in  answer  to 
his  passionate  inquiry,  that  no  one  had  come,  he  had 
exclaimed :  '  The  heartless  woman !  She  shall  gain 
nothing  by  her  cruelty,  for  I  will  pursue  her  after  death 
as  I  have  pursued  her  during  life!'  and  with  these 
words  on  his  lips  he  had  expired." 

The  impression  produced  by  this  thoroughly  authen- 
ticated recital  is  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  a  con- 
tinued connection  after  death  of  the  human  soul  with 
the  world  in  which  we  live.  There  was  a  man  whose 
whole  existence  was  absorbed  by  one  great  and  all-per- 
vading passion ;  it  brought  ruin  to  his  body  and  dis- 
abled his  mind  from  correcting  the  vagaries  of  his  fan- 
cy. He  died  in  this  state,  with  a  sense  of  grievous 
wrong  and  intense  thirst  of  revenge  uppermost  in  his 
mind.  Then  follow  a  number  of  magic  phenomena, 
witnessed,  for  several  years,  by  thousands  of  attached 
friends  and  curious  observers,  defying  the  vigilance  of 
soldiers  and  the  acnteness  of  police  agents.  These  dis- 
turbances, at  first  bearing  the  stamp  of  willful  annoy- 
ance, gradually  assume  a  milder  form,  as  if  expressive 
of  softening  indignation  ;  they  become  weaker  and  less 
frequent,  and  finally  cease  altogether,  suggestive  of  the 


184  MODERN    MAGIC. 

peace  which  the  poor  erring  soul  had  at  last  found,  by 
infinite  mercy  and  goodness,  when  safely  entering  the 
desired  haven. 

On  the  other  hand — for  contrasts  meet  here  as  well 
as  elsewhere — these  phenomena  have  been  frequently 
ascribed  to  purely  physical  causes,  and  in  a  number  of 
cases  the  final  explanation  has  confirmed  this  sugges- 
tion. A  hypochondriac  artist,  for  instance,  was  nightly 
disturbed  by  a  low  but  furious  knocking  in  his  bed, 
which  was  heard  by  others  as  well  as  by  himself.  He 
prayed,  he  caused  priests  to  come  to  his  bedside,  he  had 
masses  read  in  his  behalf,  but  all  remained  in  vain. 
Then  came  a  plain,  sensible  friend,  who,  half  in  jest 
and  half  in  earnest,  covered  his  big  toe  with  a  brass  wire 
which  he  dipped  into  an  alkaline  solution,  and  behold, 
the  knockings  ceased  and  never  returned!  (Dupotel, 
"Animal  Magn.")  In  another  case  a  somnambulistic 
woman  frightened  herself  as  well  as  others  by  most 
violent  knockings  whenever  she  was  disappointed  or 
thwarted ;  her  physician,  suspecting  the  cause,  finally 
gave  her  antispasmodic  remedies,  and  it  soon  appeared 
that  in  her  nervous  spasms  the  muscles  had  been 
vibrating  forcibly  enough  to  produce  these  disturbances. 
Since  these  discoveries  it  has  been  found  that  almost 
anybody  may  produce  such  knockings — which  stand  in 
a  suspicious  relationship  to  spirit-rappings — by  exerting 
certain  muscles  of  the  leg;  some  men,  who  have  prac- 
tised this  trick  for  scientific  purposes,  like  Professor 
Schiff,  of  Florence,  are  able  to  imitate  almost  all  the 


GHOSTS.  185 

various  knockings  generally  ascribed  to  ghosts  and 
spirits.  The  public  performances  of  Mr.  Chauucey 
Burr,  in  New  York,  gave  very  striking  illustrations  of 
this  power,  and  a  Mr.  Shadrach  Barnes  rapped  with  his 
toes  to  perfection. 

In  a  large  number  of  cases  such  phenomena  appear 
in  connection  with  persons  who  suffer  of  some  nervous 
disease,  and  then  the  knockings  are,  of  course,  produced 
unconsciously,  and  may  be  accompanied  by  evidences 
of  exceptional  powers.  It  need  not  be  added,  however, 
that  the  two  symptoms  are  not  necessarily  of  the  same 
nature;  generally  the  mechanical  knockings  precede 
the  development  of  ecstatic  visions.  A  girl  of  eleven 
years,  the  child  of  humble  Alsatian  parents,  presented, 
in  1852,  this  succession  of  symptoms  very  strikingly. 
The  child  had  a  habit  of  falling  asleep  at  all  hours ;  at 
once  mysterious  knockings  began  to  perform  a  dance 
or  a  march,  and  continued  daily  for  more  than  an  hour. 
After  some  time  the  poor  girl  began,  also,  to  talk  in  her 
sleep,  and  to  converse  with  the  knocking  agent.  She 
would  order  him  to  beat  a  tattoo,  or  to  play  a  quickstep, 
and  immediately  it  was  done.  The  directions  of  by- 
standers, even  when  not  uttered  but  merely  formed 
earnestly  in  their  mind,  were  obeyed  in  like  manner. 
Finally  the  child,  getting  no  doubt  worse  and  unmerci- 
fully excited  by  the  crowds  of  curious  people  who 
thronged  the  house,  began  to  admonish  her  audience, 
and  to  preach  and  pray;  during  these  exhortations  no 
knockings  were  heard,  but  she  became  clairvoyant  and 


186  MODERN    MAGIC. 

recognized  all  the  persons  present,  even  with  her  eyes 
closed.  She  fancied  that  a  black  man  with  a  red  shawl 
produced  the  knockings  and  delivered  the  speeches. 
Her  clairvoyance  became  at  last  so  striking  that  her 
case  excited  the  deepest  interest  of  persons  in  high 
social  position,  and  several  physicians  examined  it  with 
great  care.  Her  disease  was  declared  to  be  neurosis 
coeliaca  ("Magicon,"  v.  27-1). 

A  very  peculiar  and  utterly  inexplicable  phenomenon 
belonging  to  this  class  of  ghostly  appearances  is  the 
complete  removal  of  persons  by  an  unseen  power.  The 
idea  of  such  occurrences  must  have  been  current  among 
the  Jews,  for  when  "  there  appeared  a  chariot  of  fire 
and  horses  of  fire  . . .  and  Elijah  went  up  by  a  whirl- 
wind into  heaven"  (II.  Kings  ii.  11),  the  sons  of  the 
prophets  did  not  at  once  resign  themselves,  but  sent 
fifty  strong  men  to  seek  him,  "  lest  peradventure  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  hath  taken  him  up  and  cast  him 
upon  some  mountain  or  into  some  valley"  (v.  16).  In 
the  New  Testament  the  same  mysterious  removal  is 
mentioned  in  the  case  of  Philip,  after  his  interview 
with  the  Ethiopian,  whom  he  baptized.  "The  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  caught  away  Philip,  that  the  eunuch  saw  him 
no  more,"  and  "Philip  was  found  at  Azotus"  (Acts 
viii.  39,  40).  "What  in  these  cases  was  done  by  divine 
power,  is  said  to  be  occasionally  the  work  of  an  un- 
known and  unseen  force.  Generally,  no  doubt,  men  or 
children  lose  themselves  by  accident,  either  when  they 
are  alreadv  from  illness  or  other  cause  in  a  state  of 


GHOSTS.  187 

semi-consciousness,  or  when  they  become  so  bewildered 
and  frightened  by  the  accident  itself,  that  they  fancy 
they  must  have  been  carried  away  by  a  mysterious 
power.  The  best  authenticated  case  is  reported  in 
Beaumont  (p.  Co).  An  Irish  steward,  crossing  a  field, 
saw  in  it  a  large  company  feasting,  and  was  invited  to 
join  their  meal.  One  of  them,  however,  warned  him  in 
a  whisper  not  to  accept  anything  that  should  be  offered. 
Upon  his  refusal  to  eat,  the  table  vanished  and  the 
men  were  seen  dancing  to  a  merry  music.  He  was 
again  invited  to  join,  and  when  he  refused,  all  dis- 
appeared, and  lie  found  himself  alone.  He  hurried 
home  thoroughly  terrified,  and  fainted  away  in  his 
room.  During  the  night  he  dreamt — or  really  saw — 
that  one  of  the  mysterious  company  appeared  at  his 
bedside  and  announced  to  him  that  if  he  dare  leave  the 
house  on  the  following  day,  he  would  be  carried  away. 
He  remained  at  home  till  the  evening,  when,  thinking 
himself  safe,  he  stepped  across  the  threshold.  Instantly 
his  companions  saw  him,  with  a  rope  aronnd  his  body, 
hurried  away  so  fast  that  they  could  not  follow.  At 
last  they  meet  a  horseman  whom  they  request  by  signs 
to  arrest  the  unhappy  victim  ;  he  seizes  the  rope  and 
receives  a  smart  blow,  but  rescues  the  steward.  Lord 
Orrery  desired  to  see  the  man,  and  when  the  latter 
presented  himself  before  the  earl,  lie  reported  that 
another  nightly  visitor  had  threatened  him  as  before. 
He  was,  thereupon,  placed  in  a  large  room  under  the 
guard  of  several  stout  men  ;  a  number  of  distinguished 


188  MODERN    MAGIC. 

persons,  two  bishops  among  them,  went  constant]}*  in 
and  out.  In  the  afternoon  he  was  suddenly  lifted  into 
the  air ;  a  famous  boxer,  Greatrix,  who  had  been 
specially  engaged  to  guard  him,  and  another  powerful 
man,  seized  him  by  the  shoulders,  but  he  was  dragged 
from  their  grasp  and  for  some  time  carried  about  high 
above  their  heads,  till  at  last  he  fell  into  the  arms  of 
some  of  his  keepers.  During  the  night  the  same  appari- 
tion stood  once  more  by  his  bed-side,  inviting  him  to 
drink  of  a  gray  porridge,  which  would  cure  him  of  all  ills 
and  protect  him  against  further  violence.  He  suffered 
himself  to  be  persuaded,  when  the  visitor  made  himself 
known  as  a  former  friend  who  had  to  attend  those  mys- 
terious meetings  in  punishment  of  the  dissolute  life 
he  had  led  upon  earth,  and  who  now  wished  to  save 
another  unhappy  fellow-being  from  a  like  sad  fate.  At 
the  same  time  he  reminded  him  of  his  neglect  to  pray, 
and  then  disappeared.  The  steward  speedily  recovered 
from  his  fright,  and  was  no  further  molested.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  the  man  Avas  ill  at  ease  in  body 
and  in  conscience,  and  that  this  double  burden  was  too 
heavy  to  bear  for  his  mind ;  his  thoughts  became  dis- 
ordered, till  he  felt  an  apparently  external  power 
stronger  than  his  own  will,  and  thus  not  only  imagined 
strange  visions,  but  actually  obeyed  erratic  impulses  of 
his  diseased  mind,  as  if  they  Avere  acts  of  A'iolence  from 
without. 

A   favorite   pastime   of    these   pseudo-ghosts   is   the 
throwing  of  stones  at  the  buildings  or  even  into  the 


GHOSTS.  ISO 

rooms  of  those  whom  they  wish  to  aimoy.  Good  Cot- 
ton Mather  loved  to  tell  stories  of  such  perverse  pro- 
ceedings, and  states  at  length  the  sufferings  of  George 
Walton,  at  Portsmouth,  in  1682.  Invisible  bands 
threw  such  a  hailstorm  of  stones  against  his  -house, 
that  the  door  was  burst  open,  although  the  inhabitants, 
when  hit  by  the  stones,  only  felt  a  slight  touch.  Then 
the  stones  began  to  fly  about  inside,  and  to  destroy  the 
window-panes  from  within;  when  picked  up  by  some 
of  the  witnesses,  they  proved  to  be  burning  hot ;  they 
were  marked  and  placed  upon  a  table,  whereupon  they 
commenced  to  fly  about  once  more.  It  is  characteristic 
of  the  whole  proceeding  that  the  only  person  really  in- 
jured by  the  operation  was  the  owner  of  the  house,  a 
quaker !  The  learned  author  delights  also  in  recitals 
of  children  who  were  plagued  by  evil  spirits,  having 
forks  and  knives,  pins  and  sharp  scissors  stuck  into 
their  backs,  and  whose  food,  at  the  moment  when  it 
was  to  be  carried  from  the  plate  to  the  mouth,  flew 
away,  leaving  yarn,  ashes,  and  vile  things  to  reach  the 
palate !  At  other  times  the  disturbance  assumes  a 
somewhat  more  dignified  form,  and  appears  as  the 
ringing  of  bells.  Thus  Baxter  tells  us  of  a  house  at 
Colne  Priory,  in  Essex,  where,  for  a  time,  every  morning 
at  two  o'clock  a  large  bell  was  heard,  while  in  the  parish 
of  Wilcot,  a  smaller  bell  waked  the  vicar  night  after 
night  with  its  tinkling,  and  yet  could  not  be  heard  out- 
side of  the  dwelling.  Physicians  know  very  \vell  how 
readily  the  pressure  of  blood  to  certain  vessels  in  the 


190  MODERN    MAGIC. 

head  produces  the  impression  of  the  ringing  of  bells, 
and  experience  tells  us  how  easily  men  are  made  to 
believe  that  they  see  or  hear  what  others  assure  them 
is  seen  or  heard  by  everybody.  Even  the  great  John 
Wesley  seems  not  to  have  been  fully  convinced  of  the 
purely  natural  character  of  such  disturbances,  when 
they  annoyed  his  venerable  father  at  Epworth  Rectory ; 
and  Dr.  Priestley,  a  calm  and  cautious  writer,  says  of 
these  phenomena :  "  It  is  perhaps  the  best-authenticated 
and  the  best-told  story  of  the  kind  that  is  anywhere 
extant,  on  which  account,  and  to  exercise  the  ingenuity 
of  some  speculative  person,  I  thought  it  not  undeserved 
of  being  published."  It  seems  that  in  1716  the  rectory 
became  the  scene  of  strange  disturbances,  which  were 
at  first  ascribed  to  one  of  the  minister's  enemies,  Jeffrey. 
The  inmates  heard  an  incessant  walking  about,  sighing 
and  groaning,  cackling  and  crowing ;  a  hand-mill  was 
set  whirling-  around  by  invisible  hands,  and  the  Amen  ! 
with  which  Wesley's  father  ended  the  family  prayer 
was  accompanied  by  a  noise  like  thunder.  Even  the 
faithful  watchdog  was  disturbed  and  his  instinct  over- 
awed, for  he  sought  refuge  with  men,  and  barked 
furiously,  till  his  excitement  rose  to  a  state  resembling 
madness,  he  even  anticipated  the  coming  of  the  dis- 
turbance, and  announced  it  by  his  intense  agitation. 

The  subject  is  one  of  extreme  difficulty  because  of 
the  large  number  of  cases  in  which  all  such  distur- 
bances have  been  clearly  traced  to  the  agency  of  dissat- 
isfied servants,  hidden  enemies,  or  envious  neighbors, 


GHOSTS.  191 

whose  sole  purpose  was  a  desire  to  drive  the  occupant 
from  his  house,  or  to  diminish  its  value.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  human  nature  that  the  cunning  and  the  skill 
displayed  on  such  occasions  even  by  ignorant  servants 
and  awkward  rustics  are  perfectly  amazing,  a  fact 
which  proves  anew  the  assertion  of  old  divines,  that 
the  Devil  is  vastly  better  served  than  the  Lord  of  Hea- 
ven. Even  the  best  authenticated  case  of  such  myste- 
rious disturbances,  Kerner's  so-called  Seeress  of  Pre- 
vorst,  is  not  entirely  free  from  all  suspicion.  Mrs. 
Hauffe,  a  lady  of  delicate  health,  great  nervous  irrita- 
bility, and  a  mind  which  was,  to  say  the  least,  not  too 
well  balanced,  became  the  patient  of  Dr.  Justinus 
Kerner,  in  southern  Germany.  Besides  her  mysterious 
power  to  reveal  unknown  things,  to  read  the  future, 
and  to  prescribe  for  herself  and  others,  of  which  men- 
tion has  been  made  before ;  she  was  also  pursued  by 
every  variety  of  strange  noises.  Plates  and  glasses, 
tables  and  chairs  were  violently  thrown  about  in  the 
house  in  which  she  lived ;  a  medicine  phial  rose  slowly 
into  the  air  and  had  to  be  brought  back  by  one  of  the 
bystanders,  and  an  easy-chair  was  lifted  up  to  the  ceil- 
ing, but  came  down  again  quite  gently.  The  suffering 
woman  was  the  only  one  who  knew  the  cause  of  these 
phenomena;  she  ascribed  them  all  to  a  dark  spirit, 
Belon's  companion,  who  appeared  to  her  as  a  black  col- 
umn of  smoke,  with  a  hideous  head,  and  whose  ap- 
proach oppressed  even  some  of  the  bystanders — espe- 
cially the  patient's  sister.  He  was  not  content  with 


192  MODERN    MAGIC. 

disturbing  Mrs.  Hauffe  only,  but  carried  his  wantonness 
even  into  the  homes  of  distant  friends  and  kinsmen.  A 
pious  minister,  who  frequently  visited  the  poor  sufferer, 
was  contagiously  affected  by  the  ill-fated  atmosphere  of 
her  house;  night  after  night  he  \vas  waked  up,  by  a 
"  bright  spirit,"  who  coughed  and  sighed  and  sobbed  in 
his  presence,  till  a  fervent  prayer  drove  him  away;  if 
the  poor  divine,  however,  prayed  only  faintly  or  enter- 
tained doubts  in  his  heart,  the  spirit  mocked  him  with 
increased  energy.  Later  even  the  ministers  wife  suc- 
cumbed, saw  the  same  luminous  appearances  and  heard 
the  same  mysterious  noises,  till  the  whole  matter  was 
suddenly  brought  to  an  end  by  an  amulet!  To  this 
class  of  occurrences  belongs  also  the  experience  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Phelps  of  Stratford,  Connecticut.  One  fiue 
day  he  found,  upon  returning  from  church,  that  all  the 
doors  of  his  house,  which  he  had  carefully  locked,  were 
open  and  everything  in  the  lower  rooms  in  a  state  of 
boundless  confusion.  Xothing,  however,  had  been 
stolen.  In  the  upper  story  a  room  was  found  to  be  oc- 
cupied by  eight  or  ten  persons  diligently  reading  in  an 
open  Bible,  which  each  one  held  close  to  his  face.  Upon 
examination  these  readers  were  discovered  to  be  bundles 
of  clothes  carefully  and  most  cunningly  arranged  so  as 
to  represent  living  beings.  Everything  was  cleared 
away  and  the  room  was  locked ;  but  in  three  minutes 
the  clothing,  which  had  been  put  aside,  disappeared, 
and  when  the  door  was  opened  the  same  scene  was  pre- 
sented. For  seven  long  months  the  house  was  haunted 


GHOSTS.  193 

by  most  extraordinary  phenomena  ;  noises  of  every  kind 
were  heard  by  day  as  well  as  by  night ;  utensils  and  win- 
dow-panes were  broken  before  the  eyes  of  numerous 
witnesses  by  invisible  hands,  and  the  son  of  the  house, 
eleven  years  old,  was  bodily  lifted  up  and  carried  away 
to  some  distance.  The  most  searching  inquiry  led  to 
no  result,  until  at  last  Dr.  Phelps,  almost  in  despair, 
applied  to  some  spiritualists,  and  in  consequence  of  the 
hints  he  received  was  enabled  to  bring  the  disturbances 
to  a  speedy  end  (Reclienberg,  p.  58). 

Stone-throwing  seems  to  be  a  favorite  amusement  with 
Eastern  ghosts  also ;  at  least  we  are  told  that  it  is  quite 
frequent  in  the  western  part  of  the  Island  of  Java,  where 
the  Sun  da  people  live  amid  gigantic  mountains  and  still 
active  volcanoes.  They  believe  in  good  and  evil  spirits, 
and  are  firmly  convinced  that  constant  intercourse  is 
kept  up  between  earth-born  men  and  heavenly  beings. 
The  whole  Indian  Archipelago  is  filled  with  the  latter, 
and  hence,  the  throwing  of  stones,  sand  and  gravel,  by 
invisible  hands,  has  a  name  of  its  own,  it  is  called  Gund- 
arua.  Some  thirty  years  ago,  a  German  happened  to  be 
Assistant-Resident  at  Sumadang,  in  the  service  of  the 
Dutch  government.  His  wife  had  taken  a  fancy  to  a 
native  child  ten  years  old,  who  was  allowed  to  go  in  and 
out  the  house  at  will.  One  morning  during  the  Ger- 
man's absence,  the  child's  white  dress  was  found  to  be 
soiled  all  over  with  red  betel-juice,  and  at  the  moment 
when  her  patroness  made  this  discovery,  a  stone  fell  ap- 
parently from  the  ceiling,  at  her  feet.  The  same  phe- 

9 


194  MODERN    MAGIC. 

nomenon  was  repeated  over  and  over  again,  till  the  lady, 
in  her  distress,  appealed  to  a  neighboring  native  sover- 
eign, who  promised  his  assistance.  He  sent  immediately 
a  large  force  of  armed  men,  who  surrounded  the  house 
and  watched  the  room ;  nevertheless,  the  red  spots  re- 
appeared and  stones  fell  as  before.  Towards  evening,  a 
Mohammedan  mufti,  of  high  rank,  was  sent  for ;  but  he 
had  scarcely  opened  his  Koran,  to  read  certain  sentences 
for  the  purpose  of  exorcising  the  demons,  when  the  sacred 
book  was  hurled  to  one  side  and  the  lamp  to  another. 
The  lady  took  the  child  to  the  prince's  residence  to  spend 
the  night  there,  and  no  disturbance  occurred.  But  when 
her  husband,  for  whom  swift  messengers  had  been  sent 
out,  returned  on  the  following  day,  the  same  trouble 
occurred;  the  child  was  spit  at  with  betel-juice  and 
stones  kept  falling  from  on  high.  Soon  the  report 
reached  the  Governor-General  atBreitenzorg,  who  there- 
upon sent  a  man  of  great  military  renown,  a  Major 
Michiels,  to  investigate  the  matter.  Once  more  the 
house  was  surrounded  by  an  armed  force,  even  the 
neighboring  trees  were  carefully  guarded,  and  the  ma- 
jor took  the  little  girl  upon  his  knees.  In  spite  of  all  these 
precautions,  her  dress  was  soon  covered  with  red  spots, 
and  stones  flew  about  as  before.  No  one,  however,  was 
injured.  They  were  gathered  up,  proved  to  be  wet  or 
hot,  as  if  just  picked  up  in  the  road,  and  at  night  filled 
a  huge  box.  The  same  process  continued,  when  a  huge 
sheet  of  linen  had  been  stretched  from  wall  to  wall,  so 
as  to  form  an  inner  ceiling  under  the  real  ceiling ;  and 


GHOSTS.  1 95 

now  uot  only  stones,  but  also  fruit  from  the  surrounding 
trees,  freshly  gathered,  and  mortar  from  the  kitchen  fell 
into  the  newly  formed  tent.  At  the  same  time  the  fur- 
niture was  repeatedly  disturbed,  tumblers  and  wine- 
glasses tossed  about,  and  marks  left  on  the  large  mirror 
as  if  a  moist  hand  had  been  passed  over  the  surface. 
The  marvelous  occurrences  were  duly  reported  to  the 
home  government,  and  the  king,  William  II.,  ordered 
that  no  pains  should  be  spared  to  clear  up  the  matter. 
But  no  explanation  was  ever  obtained;  only  the  fact  was 
ascertained  that  similar  phenomena  had  been  repeatedly 
observed  in  other  parts  of  the  island  also,  and  were 
considered  quite  ordinary  occurrences  by  the  natives. 
Certain  families,  it  may  be  added,  claim  to  have  inher- 
ited from  their  ancestors  the  power  to  make  themselves 
invisible,  a  gift  which  is  almost  invariably  accompanied 
by  the  Gundarua  ;  as  these  native  families  gradually  die 
out,  the  symptoms  of  the  latter  also  disappear  more 
and  more.  There  is  no  doubt  that  here,  as  in  the  Rus- 
si&npoganne  (cursed  places  which  are  haunted  by  ghosts), 
the  belief  in  such  appearances,  bequeathed  through  long 
ages  from  father  to  son,  has  finally  obtained  a  force 
which  renders  it  equal  to  reality  itself.  Reason,  is  not 
only  biased,  but  actually  held  bound ;  the  mind  is 
wrought  up  to  a  state  of  excitement  in  which  it  ceases 
to  see  clearly,  and  finally  visions  assume  an  overwhelm- 
ing force,  which  ends  in  symptoms  of  what  is  called 
magic.  The  Same  law  applies,  for  instance,  to  the  an- 
cient home  of  charmers  and  magicians,  the  land  of  the 


106  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Nile,  where  also  the  studies  of  the  ancient  Magi  have 
been  assumed  by  a  succession  of  learned  men,  till  they 
were  taken  up  by  fanatic  Mohammedans,  whose  creed 
arranges  invisible  beings,  angels,  demons,  and  others, 
in  regular  order,  and  assigns  them  a  home  in  distinct 
parts  of  the  universe.  It  is  not  without  interest  to  ob- 
serve that  even  Europeans,  after  a  long  residence  in  the 
Orient,  become  deeply  imbued  with  such  notions,  and 
men  like  Bayle  St.  John,  in  his  account  of  magic  per- 
formances which  he  witnessed,  do  not  seem  able  to  re- 
main altogether  impartial. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  belonging  to 
this  branch  of  magic  is  the  appearance  of  living  or 
recently  deceased  persons  to  friends  or  supplicants. 
The  peculiarity  in  this  case  consists  in  the  constantly 
changing  character  of  the  appearance:  the  double — as 
it  is  called — is  the  vision  of  the  dying  man,  which 
appears  to  others  or  to  his  own  senses.  The  former 
class  of  cases  was  well  known  in  antiquity,  for  Pytha- 
goras already  had,  according  to  popular  report,  appeared 
to  numerous  friends  before  he  died.  Herodotus  and 
Maximus  Tyrius  state  both,  that  Aristaeus  sent  his 
spirit  into  different  lands  to  acquire  knowledge,  and 
Epimenides  and  Hernestinus,  from  Claromenae,  were 
Dopularly  believed  to  be  able  to  visit,  when  in  a  state  of 
ecstasy,  all  distant  countries,  and  to  return  at  pleasure. 
St.  Augustine,  also,  states  (••  Sermon,"  123)  that  he, 
himself,  had  appeared  to  two  persons  who  had  known 
him  only  by  reputation,  and  advised  them  to  go  to 


GHOSTS.  197 

Hippons  in  order  to  obtain  their  health  there  by  the  in- 
tercession of  St.  Stephen.  They  really  went  to  the 
place  and  recovered  from  their  disease.  At  another 
time  his  form  appeared  to  a  famous  teacher  of  eloquence 
in  Carthage  and  explained  to  him  several  most  difficult 
passages  in  Cicero's  writings  (De  cura  pro  mortuis,  ch. 
ii).  The  saints  of  the  Catholic  church  having  possessed 
the  gift  of  being  in  several  places  at  once,  apparently  so 
very  generally,  that  the  miracle  has  lost  its  interest, 
except  where  peculiar  circumstances  seem  to  suggest 
the  true  explanation.  Such  was,  for  instance,  the  last- 
mentioned  case,  recited  by  St.  Augustine  (De  Civ.  Dei. 
1.  8.  ch.  18).  Praestantius  requested  a  philosopher  to 
solve  to  him  some  doubts,  but  received  no  answer.  The 
following  night,  however,  when  Prrestantius  lay  awake, 
troubled  by  his  difficulties,  he  suddenly  saw  his  learned 
friend  standing  by  his  bedside  and  heard  from  his  lips 
all  he  desired  to  know.  Upon  meeting  him  next  day, 
he  inquired  why  he  had  been  unwilling  to  explain  the 
matter  in  the  daytime,  and  thus  caused  himself  the 
trouble  of  .coming  at  midnight  to  his  house.  "  I  never 
came  to  your  house,"  was  the  reply,  "  but  I  dreamt  that 
I  did."  Here  was  very  evidently  a  case  of  magic  activ- 
ity on  the  part  of  the  philosopher,  whose  mind  was,  in 
his  sleep,  busily  engaged  in  solving  the  propounded 
mystery  and  thus  affected  not  himself  only,  but  his 
absent  friend  likewise. 

The  story  of  Dr.  Donne's  vision  is  well  known,  and 
deserves  all  the  more  serious  attention  as  his  candor 


198  MODERN    MAGIC. 

was  above  suspicion,  and  bis  judgment  held  in  the 
highest  esteem.  He  formed  part  of  an  embassy  sent  to 
Henry  IV.  of  France,  and  hud  been  two  days  in  Paris, 
thinking  constantly  and  anxiously  of  his  wife,  whom  he 
had  left  ill  in  London.  Towards  noon  he  suddenly  fell 
into  a  kind  of  trance,  and  when  he  recovered  his  senses 
related  to  his  friends  that  he  had  seen  his  beloved  wife 
pass  him  twice,  as  she  walked  across  the  room,  her  hair 
dishevelled  and  her  child  dead  in  her  arms.  When  she 
passed  him  the  second  time,  she  looked  sadly  into  his 
face  and  then  disappeared.  His  fears  were  aroused  to 
such  a  degree  by  this  vision  that  he  immediately  dis- 
patched a  special  messenger  to  England,  and  twelve 
days  later  he  received  the  afflicting  news  that  on  that 
day  and  at  that  hour  his  wife  had,  after  great  and  pro- 
tracted suffering,  been  delivered  of  a  still-born  infant 
(Beaumont,  p.  96).  In  Macnish's  excellent  work  on 
"Sleep,"  we  find  (p.  180)  the  following  account:  "A 
Mr.  H.  went  one  day,  apparently  in  the  enjoyment  of 
full  health,  down  the  street,  when  he  saw  a  friend  of 
his,  Mr.  C.,  Avho  was  walking  before  him.  He  called 
his  name  aloud,  but  the  latter  pretended  not  to  hear 
him,  and  steadily  walked  on.  II.  hastened  his  steps  to 
overtake  him,  but  his  friend  also  hurried  on,  and  thus 
remained  at  the  same  distance  from  him  :  thus  the  two 
walked  for  some  time,  till  suddenly  Mr.  C.  entered  a 
gateway,  and  when  Mr.  H.  was  about  to  follow,  slammed 
the  door  violently  in  his  face.  Perfectly  amazed  at 
such  unusual  conduct,  Mr.  H.  opened  the  door  and 


GHOSTS.  199 

looked  down  the  loug  passage,  upon  which  it  opened, 
but  saw  no  one.  Determined  to  solve  the  mystery,  he 
hurried  to  his  friend's  house,  and  there,  to  his  great 
astonishment,  learnt  that  Mr.  C.  had  been  confined  to 
his  bed  for  some  days.  It  was  not  until  several  weeks 
later  that  the  two  friends  met  at  the  house  of  a  com- 
mon acquaintance ;  Mr.  H.  told  Mr.  C.  of  his  adven- 
ture, and  added  laughingly,  that  having  seen  his 
double,  he  was  afraid  Mr.  C.  would  not  live  long. 
These  words  were  received  by  all  with  hearty  laughter; 
but  only  a  few  days  after  this  meeting  the  unfortunate 
friend  was  seized  with  a  violent  illness,  to  which  he 
speedily  succumbed."  What  is  most  remarkable,  how- 
ever, is  that  Mr.  H.  also  followed  him,  quite  unex- 
pectedly, soon  to  the  grave.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  nature  of  the  event  itself,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that 
the  minds  of  both  friends  were  far  more  deeply  im- 
pressed by  its  mysteriousuess  than  they  would  probably 
have  been  willing  to  acknowledge  to  themselves,  and 
that  the  nervous  excitement  thus  produced  brought 
out  an  illness  lurking  already  in  their  system,  and  ren- 
dered it  fatal.  A  very  remarkable  case  was  that  of  a 
distinguished  diplomat,  related  by  A.  Moritz  in  his 
'•'  Psychology."  He  was  lying  in  bed,  sleepless,  when 
he  noticed  his  pet  dog  becoming  restless,  and  apparently 
disturbed  to  the  utmost  by  a  rustling  and  whisking 
about  in  the  room,  which  he  heard  but  could  not  ex- 
plain. Suddenly  a  kind  of  white  vapor  rose  by  his 
bed-side,  and  gradually  assumed  the  outline  and  even 


200  iTODERX    MAGIC. 

the  features  of  his  mother;  he  especially  noticed  a 
purple  ribbon  in  her  cap.  He  jumped  out  of  bed  and 
endeavored  to  embrace  her,  but  she  fled  before  him  and 
as  suddenly  vanished,  leaving  a  bright  glare  at  the 
place  where  she  had  disappeared.  It  was  found,  after- 
wards, that  at  that  hour — 10  o'clock  A.  M. — the  old 
lady  had  been  ill  unto  death,  lying  still  and  almost 
breathless  on  her  couch ;  she  had  felt  the  anguish  of 
death  in  her  heart,  and  had  thought  so  anxiously  of 
her  son  and  her  sister,  that  her  first  question  when  she 
recovered  was,  whether  she  had  not  perhaps  been 
visited  by  the  two  persons  who  had  thus  occupied  her 
whole  mind.  It  was  also  ascertained  that,  contrary  to  a 
life's  habit,  she  had  on  that  day  worn  a  purple  ribbon 
in  her  night-cap.  A  German  professor  once  succeeded 
in  establishing  the  connection  which  undoubtedly 
exists  between  the  will  of  certain  persons  and  their 
appearance  to  others.  He  had  only  been  married  a 
year  in  1823,  when  he  was  compelled  to  leave  his  wife 
and  to  undertake  a  long  and  perilous  journey.  Once, 
sitting  in  a  peculiarly  sad  and  dejected  mood  alone  in 
a  room  of  his  hotel,  he  longed  so  ardently  for  the 
society  of  his  wife,  that  he  felt  in  his  heart  as  if,  by  a 
great  effort  of  will,  he  should  be  able  to  see  her.  He 
made  the  effort,  and,  behold  !  he  saw  her  sitting  at  her 
work-table,  busily  engaged  in  sewing,  and  himself,  as 
was  his  habit,  on  a  low  foot-stool  by  her  side.  She 
tried  to  conceal  her  work  from  his  eyes.  A  few  days 
later  a  messenger  reached  him,  sent  by  his  Avife,  who 


GHOSTS.  201 

was  in  great  consternation  and  anxiety.  On  that  day 
she  also  had  suddenly  seen  her  husband  seated  by  her 
side,  attentively  watching  her  at  work,  and  continuing 
there  till  her  father  entered  the  room,  upon  which  the 
professor  had  instantly  disappeared.  When  he  returned 
to  his  house  he  made  minute  inquiries  as  to  the  work 
he  had  seen  in  the  hands  of  his  wife,  and  this  was  of 
such  peculiar  character  as  to  exclude  all  ideas  of  a 
mere  dream  on  his  part.  Here  also  the  supreme  will 
of  the  professor  must  have  endowed  him  for  the  mo- 
ment with  exceptional  powers,  enabling  him  to  make 
himself  visible  to  his  wife,  while  the  latter,  with  the 
ardent  love  which  bound  her  to  her  husband,  was  at, 
the  same  moment  sympathetically  excited,  and  thus 
enabled  to  second  his  will,  and  to  behold  him  as  she 
was  accustomed  to  see  him  most  frequently. 

Owen  in  his  "  Footfalls  on  the  Boundary  of  Another 
World,"  reports  fully  a  remarkable  case  here  repeated 
only  in  o it  time.  Robert  Bruce,  thirty  years  old,  served 
as  mate  on  board  a  merchant  vessel  on  the  line  between 
Liverpool  and  St.  John  in  New  Brunswick.  When  the 
ship  was  near  the  banks  he  was  one  day  about  noon 
busy  calculating  the  longitude,  and  thinking  that  the 
captain  was  in  his  cabin — the  next  to  his  own — he 
called  out  to  him :  How  have  you  found  it  ?  Looking 
back  over  his  shoulder,  he  saw  the  captain  writing  bu- 
sily at  his  desk,  and  as  he  heard  no  answer,  he  went  in 
and  repeated  his  question.  To  his  horror  the  man  at 
the  desk  raised  his  head  and  revealed  to  him  the  face 


202  MODERX    MAGIC. 

of  an  entire  stranger,  who  regarded  him  fixedly.  In  a 
state  of  great  excitement  he  rushed  to  the  upper  deck, 
where  he  found  the  captain  and  told  him  what  had  oc- 
curred. Thereupon  both  went  down  ;  there  was  no  one 
in  the  cabin,  but  on  the  captain's  slate  an  unknown 
hand  had  written  these  Avords :  Steer  NW. !  No  effort 
was  spared  to  solve  the  mystery ;  the  whole  vessel  was 
searched  from  end  to  end,  but  no  stranger  was  discov- 
ered ;  even  the  handwriting  of  every  member  of  the 
crew  was  examined,  but  nothing  found  resembling  in 
the  least  degree  the  mysterious  warning.  After  some 
hesitation  the  captain  decided,  as  nothing  was  likely  to 
be  lost  by  so  doing,  to  obey  the  behest  and  ordered  the 
helmsman  to  steer  northwest.  A  few  hours  later  they 
encountered  the  wreck  of  a  vessel  fastened  to  an  ice- 
berg, with  a  large  crew  and  a  number  of  passengers,  in 
expectation  of  certain  death.  When  the  unfortunate 
men  were  brought  back  by  the  ship's  boats,  Bruce  sud- 
denly started  in  utter  amazement,  for  in  one  of  the 
saved  men  he  recognized,  by  dress  and  features,  the  per- 
son he  had  seen  at  the  captain's  desk  in  the  cabin.  The 
stranger  was  requested  to  write  down  the  words  :  Steer 
XW. !  and  when  the  words  were  compared  with  those 
still  standing  on  the  slate,  they  were  identical !  Upon 
inquiry  it  turned  out  that  the  shipwrecked  man  had  at 
noon  fallen  into  a  deep  sleep,  during  which  he  had  seen 
a  ship  approaching  to  their  rescue.  When  he  had  been 
waked  half  an  hour  later  he  had  confidently  assured 
his  fellow-sufferers  that  they  would  be  rescued,  de- 


GHOSTS.  203 

scribing  even  the  vessel  that  was  to  come  to  their  assist- 
ance. Words  cannot  convey  the  amazement  of  the  un- 
fortunate men  when  they  saw,  a  few  hours  afterwards, 
a  ship  bear  down  upon  them,  which  bore  all  the  marks 
predicted  by  their  companion,  and  the  latter  assured 
Robert  Bruce  that  everything  on  board  the  vessel  ap- 
peared to  him  perfectly  familiar. 

Cases  in  which  men  have  been  seen  at  the  same  time 
at  two  different  places  are  not  less  frequent,  though 
here  the  explanation  is  much  less  easy.  A  French  girl, 
Emilie  Sagee,  had  even  to  pay  a  severe  penalty  for  such 
a  peculiarity :  she  was  continually  met  with  at  various 
places  at  once,  and  as  she  could  not  give  a  satisfactory 
excuse  for  being  at  one  place  when  her  duties  required 
her  to  be  at  another,  she  was  suspected  of  sad  miscon- 
duct. She  lived  as  governess  in  a  boarding-school  in 
Livonia,  and  the  girls  of  the  institute  saw  her  at  the 
same  time  sitting  among  them  and  walking  below  in 
the  garden  by  the  side  of  a  friend,  and  not  unfrequent- 
ly  two  Miss  Sagees  would  be  seen  standing  before  the 
blackboard,  looking  exactly  alike  and  performing  the 
same  motions,  although  one  of  them  only  wrote  with 
chalk  on  the  board.  Once,  while  she  was  helping  a 
friend  to  lace  her  dress  behind,  the  latter  looked  into 
the  mirror  and  to  her  horror  saw  two  persons  standing 
there,  whereupon  she  fell  down  fainting.  The  poor 
French  girl  lost  her  place  not  less  than  nineteen  times 
on  account  of  her  double  existence  (Owen,  "  Foot- 
falls," etc.,  p.  348). 


204  MODKKX    MAGIC. 

Occasionally  this  "  double  "  appears  to  others  at  the 
same  time  that  it  is  seen  by  the  owner  himself.  Thus 
the  Empress  Elizabeth,  of  Russia,  was  seen  by  a  Count 
0.  and  the  Imperial  Guards,  seated  in  full  regalia  on 
her  throne,  in  the  throne-room,  while  she  was  lying  fast 
asleep  in  her  bed.  The  vision  was  so  distinct,  and  the 
terror  of  the  beholders  so  great,  that  the  Empress  was 
actually  waked,  and  informed  of  what  had  happened,  by 
her  lady-in-waiting,  who  had  herself  seen  the  whole 
scene.  The  dauntless  Empress  did  not  hesitate  for  a 
moment ;  she  dressed  hastily  and  went  to  the  throne- 
room  ;  when  the  doors  were  thrown  open,  she  saw  her- 
self, as  the  others  had  seen  her;  but  so  far  from  being 
terrified  like  her  servants,  she  ordered  the  guard  to  fire 
at  the  apparition.  When  the  smoke  had  passed  away, 
the  hall  was  empty — but  the  brave  Empress  died  a  few 
months  latter  (Bl.  aus  Prevost,  V.  p.  92).  Jung 
Stilling  mentions  another  striking  illustration.  A 
young  lieutenant,  full  of  health  and  in  high  spirits, 
returns  home  from  a  merry  meeting  with  old  friends. 
As  he  approaches  the  house  in  which  he  lives,  he  sees 
lights  in  his  room  and,  to  his  great  terror,  himself  in 
the  act  of  being  undressed  by  his  servant ;  as  he  stands 
and  gazes  in  speechless  wonder,  he  sees  himself  walk  to 
his  bed  and  lie  down.  He  remains  for  some  time 
dumbfounded  and  standing  motionless  in  the  street, 
till  at  last  a  dull,  heavy  crash  arouses  him  from  his 
revery.  He  makes  an  effort,  goes  to  the  door  and  rings 
the  bell;  his  servant,  who  opens  the  door,  starts  back 


GHOSTS.  205 

frightened,  and  wonders  how  he  could  have  dressed  so 
quickly  and  gone  out.  as  he  had  but  just  helped  him  to 
undress.  When  they  enter  the  bedroom,  however,  they 
are  both  still  more  amazed,  for  there  they  find  a  large 
part  of  the  ceiling  on  the  bed  of  the  officer,  which  is 
broken  to  pieces  by  the  heavy  mortar  that  had  fallen 
down.  The  young  lieutenant  saw  in  the  warning  a 
direct  favor  of  Providence  and  lived  henceforth  so  as 
to  show  his  gratitude  for  this  almost  miraculous  escape 
("  Jenseits,"  p.  105). 

Not  unfrequently  the  seeing  of  a  "  double "  is  the 
result  of  physical  or  mental  disease.  Persons  suffering 
of  catalepsy  are  especially  prone  to  see  their  own  forms 
mixing  with  strange  persons,  who  people  the  room  in 
which  they  are  confined.  Insanity,  also,  very  often 
begins  with  the  idea,  that  the  patient's  own  image  is 
constantly  by  his  side,  accompanying  him  like  his 
shadow  wherever  he  goes,  and  finally  irritating  him 
beyond  endurance.  In  these  cases  there  is,  of  course, 
nothing  at  work  but  a  diseased  imagination,  and  with 
the  return  of  health  the  visions  also  disappear. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  branch  of  this  subject 
is  the  theory,  cherished  by  all  nations  and  in  all  ages, 
that  the  dying  possess  at  the  last  moment  and  by  a 
supreme  effort,  the  mysterious  power  of  making  them- 
selves perceptible  to  friends  at  a  distance.  We  leave 
out.  here  also,  the  numerous  instances  told  of  saints, 
because  they  are  generally  claimed  by  the  Catholic 
Church  as  miracles.  One  of  the  oldest  well-authen- 


206  MODERN    MAGIC. 

ticated  cases  of  the  kind,  occurred  at  the  court  of  Cosmo 
de'  Medici,  in  1499.  Iii  the  brilliant  circle  of  eminent 
men  which  the  great  merchant  prince  had  gathered 
around  him,  two  philosophers,  Michael  Mercatus,  papal 
prothonotary,  and  Marsilius  Ficinus  were  prominent  by 
their  vast  erudition,  their  common  devotion  to  Platonic 
philosophy,  and  the  ardent  friendship  which  bound 
them  to  each  other.  They  had  solemnly  agreed  that  he 
who  should  die  first,  should  convey  to  the  other  some 
information  about  the  future  state.  Ficinus  died  first, 
and  his  friend,  Avriting  early  .in  the  morning  near  a 
window,  suddenly  heard  a  horseman  dashing  up  to  his 
house,  checking  his  horse  and  crying  out :  '•'  Michael ! 
Michael !  nothing  is  more  true  than  what  is  said 
of  the  life  to  come!"  Mercatus  immediately  opened 
the  window  and  saw  his  bosom  friend  riding  at  full 
speed  down  the  road,  on  his  white  horse,  until  he  was 
out  of  sight.  He  returned,  full  of  thought,  to  his 
studies;  but  wrote  at  once  to  inquire  about  his  friend. 
In  due  time  the  answer  came,  that  Ficinus  had  died  in 
Florence  at  the  very  moment  in  which  Mercatus  had 
seen  him  in  Rome.  Our  authority  for  this  re- 
markable account  is  the  Cardinal  Barouius,  who  knew 
Mercatus  and  heard  it  from  his  own  lips ;  but  the  dates 
which  he  mentions  do  not  correspond  with  the  annals 
of  history.  He  places  the  event  in  the  year  1491,  but 
Michele  de'  Mercati  was  papal  prothonotary  under  Si'xtus 
V.  (1585-90)  and  could,  therefore,  not  have  been  the 
friend  of  Ficinus,  the  famous  physician  and  theologian, 


GHOSTS.  207 

•who  was  one  of  Savonarola's  most  distinguished 
adherents. 

Xor  can  we  attach  much  weight  to  the  old  ballads  of 
Roland,  which  recite  in  touching  simplicity  the  anguish 
of  Charlemagne,  when  he  heard  from  afar  the  sound  of 
his  champion's  horn  imploring  him  to  come  to  his 
assistance,  although  the  two  armies  were  at  so  great  a 
distance  from  each  other  that  when  the  Emperor  at  last 
reached  the  ill-fated  valley  of  Eonceval,  his  heroic  friend 
had  been  dead  for  some  days.  Calderon  depicts  in  like 
manner,  but  with  the  peculiar  coloring  of  the  Spanish 
devotee,  how  the  dying  Eiisebio  calls  his  absent  friend 
Alberto  to  his  bedside,  to  hear  his  last  confession,  and 
how  the  latter,  obeying  the  mysterious  summons,  has- 
tens there  to  fulfil  his  solemn  promise. 

A  well-known  occurrence  of  this  kind  is  reported  by 
Cotton  Mather  as  having  taken  place  in  New  England. 
On  May  2d,  1 687,  at  5  o'clock  A.  M.,  a  young  man,  called 
Beacon,  then  living  in  Boston,  suddenly  saw  his  brother, 
whom  he  had  left  in  London,  standing  before  him  in 
his  usual  costume,  but  with  a  bleeding  wound  in  his 
forehead.  He  told  him  that  he  had  been  foully  mur- 
dered by  a  reprobate,  who  would  soon  reach  New  Eng- 
land ;  at  the  same  time  he  described  minutely  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  murderer,  and  implored  his  brother  to 
avenge  his  death,  promising  him  his  assistance.  Towards 
the  end  of  June  official  information  reached  the  colony 
that  the  young  man  had  died  on  May  2d,  at  o  o'clock 
A.  M.,  from  the  effects  of  his  wounds.  But  here,  also, 


208  MODERN    MAGIC. 

several  inconsistencies  diminish  the  value  of  the  account 
In  the  first  place,  the  narrator  has  evidently  forgotten 
the  difference  in  time  between  London  and  Boston  in 
America,  or  he  has  purposely  falsified  the  report,  in 
order  to  make  it  more  impressive.  Then  the  murderer 
never  left  his  country;  although  he  was  tried  for  his 
crime,  escaped  the  penalty  of  death  by  the  aid  of  influ- 
ential friends.  It  is,  however,  possible  that  he  may  have 
had  the  intention  of  seeking  safety  abroad  at  the  time 
he  committed  the  murder. 

The  apparition  of  the  great  Cardinal  of  Lorraine  at 
the  moment  of  death,  is  better  authenticated.  D'Au- 
bigne  tells  us  (Hi.«t.  Unirer.  1574,  p.  719)  that  the 
queen  Catherine  of  Medici,  was  retiring  one  day,  at  an 
earlier  hour  than  usual,  in  the  presence  of  the  King  of 
Navarre,  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  and  a  number  of 
eminent  persons,  when  she  suddenly  hid  her  eyes  tinder 
her  hands  and  cried  piteously  for  help.  She  made  great 
efforts  to  point  out  to  the  bystanders  the  form  of  the 
Cardinal,  whom  she  saw  standing  at  the  foot  of  her  bed 
and  offering  her  his  hand.  She  exclaimed  repeatedly : 
"Monsieur  le  Cardinal,  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  you  !  " 
and  was  in  a  state  of  most  fearful  excitement.  At  last 
one  of  the  courtiers  had  the  wit  to  go  to  the  Cardinal's 
house,  and  soon  returned  with  the  appalling  news  that 
the  great  man  had  died  in  that  very  hour.  To  this  class  of 
cases  belongs  also  the  well-known  vision  of  Lord  Lyt- 
tleton,  who  had  been  warned  that  he  would  die  on  a 
certain  day,  at  midnight,  and  who  did  die  at  the 


GHOSTS.  209 

appointed  hour,  although  his  friends  had  purposely  ad- 
vanced every  clock  and  watch  in  the  house  by  half  tin 
hour,  and  he  himself  had  gone  to  bed  with  his  mind 
relieved  of  all  anxiety.  Jarvis,  in  his  "  Aureditated  Ghosh 
Stories,"  p.  13,  relates  the  following  remarkable  case : 
"  When  General  Stuart  was  Governor  of  San  Domingo, 
in  the  early  part  of  our  war  of  independence,  he  was  one 
day  anxiously  awaiting  a  certain  Major  von  Blomberg, 
who  had  been  expected  for  some  time.  At  last  he  de- 
termined to  dictate  to  his  secretary  a  dispatch  to  the 
Home  Government  on  this  subject,  when  steps  were 
heard  outside,  and  the  major  himself  entered,  desiring 
to  confer  with  the  Governor  in  private.  He  said: 
'  When  you  return  to  England,  pray  go  into  Dorset- 
shire to  such  and  such  a  farm,  where  you  will  find  my 
son,  the  fruit  of  a  secret  union  with  Lady  Laing. 
Take  care  of  the  poor  orphan.  The  woman  who  has 
reared  him  has  the  papers  that  establish  his  legitimacy ; 
they  are  in  a  red  morocco  pocket-book.  Open  it  and 
make  the  best  use  you  can  of  the  papers  you  will  find. 
You  will  never  see  me  again.'  Thereupon  the  major  walk- 
ed away,  but  nobody  else  had  seen  him  come  or  go,  and 
nobody  had  opened  the  house  for  him.  A  few  days  later, 
news  reached  the  island  that  the  vessel  on  which  Blom- 
berg had  taken  passage,  had  foundered,  and  all  hands 
had  .perished,  at  the  very  hour  when  the  former  had 
appeared  to  his  friend  the  Governor.  It  became  also 
known  that  the  two  friends  had  pledged  each  other,  not 
onlv  that  the  survivor  should  take  care  of  the  children 


210  MODERN    MAGIC. 

of  him  who  died  first,  but  also  that  he  should  make  an 
effort  to  appear  to  him  if  permitted  to  do  so.  The 
Governor  found  everything  as  it  had  been  told  him  ; 
he  took  charge  of  his  friend's  son,  who  became  a  pro- 
tege of  Queen  Charlotte,  when  she  heard  the  remarka- 
ble story,  and  waseducated  as  a  companion  of  the  future 
George  IV." 

Lord  Byron  tells  the  following  story  of  Captain 
Kidd.  He  was  lying  one  night  in  his  cabin  asleep, 
when  he  suddenly  felt  oppressed  by  a  heavy  weight 
apparently  resting  on  him ;  he  opened  his  eyes,  and  by 
the  feeble  light  of  a  small  lamp  he  fancied  he  saw  his 
brother,  dressed  in  full  uniform,  and  leaning  across  the 
bed.  Under  the  impression  that  the  whole  is  a  mere 
idle  delusion  of  his  senses,  he  turns  over  and  falls 
asleep  once  more.  But  the  sense  of  oppression  returns, 
and  upon  opening  his  eyes  he  sees  the  same  image  as 
before.  Now  he  tries  to  seize  it,  and  to  his  amazement 
touches  something  wet.  This  terrifies  him,  and  he 
calls  a  brother  officer,  but  when  the  latter  enters, 
nothing  is  to  be  seen.  After  the  lapse  of  several 
months  Captain  Kidd  received  information  that  in  that 
same  night  his  brother  had  been  drowned  in  the  In- 
dian Sea.  He  himself  told  the  story  to  Lord  Byron, 
and  the  latter  endorsed  its  accuracy  (Monthly  Rev., 
1830,  p.  229). 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  interviews  of  this  kind, 
which  continued  for  some  time,  and  led  to  a  prolonged 
and  interesting  conversation  during  which  the  three 


GHOSTS.  211 

senses  of  sight,  hearing,  and  touch,  were  alike  engaged, 
is  that  which  a  Mrs.  Bargrave  had  on  the  8th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1805.  According  to  an  account  given  by 
Juryis  ("Aured.  Ghost  Stories,"  Lond.,  1823),  she  was 
sitting  in  her  house  in  Canterbury,  in  a  state  of  great 
despondency,  when  a  friend  of  hers,  Miss  Veal,  who 
lived  at  Dover,  and  whom  she  had  not  seen  for  two 
years  and  a  half,  entered  the  room.  The  two  ladies 
had  formerly  been  very  intimate,  and  found  equal  com- 
fort, during  a  period  of  great  sorrow,  in  reading 
together  works  treating  of  future  life  and  similar  sub- 
jects. Her  friend  wore  a  traveling  suit,  and  the  clocks 
were  striking  noon  as  she  entered;  Mrs.  Bargrave 
wished  to  embrace  her,  but  Miss  Veal  held  a  hand 
before  her  eyes,  stating  that  she  was  unwell  and  drew 
back.  She  then  added  that  she  Avas  on  the  point  of 
making  a  long  journey,  and  feeling  an  irresistible  de- 
sire to  see  her  friend  once  more,  she  had  come  to  Can- 
terbury. She  sat  down  in  an  arm-chair  and  began  a 
lengthened  conversation,  during  which  she  begged  her 
friend's  pardon  for  having  so  long  neglected  her,  and 
gradually  turned  to  the  subject  which  had  been  upper- 
most in  Mrs.  Bargrave's  mind,  the  views  entertained  by 
various  authors  of  the  life  after  death.  She  attempted 
to  console  the  latter,  assuring  her  that  "a  moment  of 
future  bliss  was  ample  compensation  for  all  earthly 
sufferings,"  and  that  "  if  the  eyes  of  our  mind  were  as 
open  as  those  of  the  body,  we  should  see  a  number  of 
higher  beings  ready  for  our  protection."  She  declined, 


212  MODERN    MAGIC. 

however,  reading  certain  verses  aloud  at  her  friend's  re- 
quest, "  because  holding  her  head  low  gave  her  the 
headache."  She  frequently  passed  her  hand  over  her 
face,  but  at  last  begged  Mrs.  Bargrave  to  write  a  letter 
to  her  brother,  which  surprised  her  friend  very  much,  for 
in  the  letter  she  wished  her  brother  to  distribute  certain 
rings  and  sums  of  money  belonging  to  her  among 
friends  and  kinsmen.  At  this  time  she  appeared  to  be 
growing  ill  again,  and  Mrs.  Bargrave  moved  close  up 
to  her  in  order  to  support  her,  in  doing  so  she  touched 
her  dress  and  praised  the  materials,  whereupon  Miss 
Veal  told  her  that  it  was  recently  made,  but  of  a  silk 
which  had  been  cleaned.  Then  she  inquired  after  Mr-?. 
Bargrave's  daughter,  and  the  latter  went  to  a  neighbor- 
ing house  to  fetch  her ;  on  her  way  back  she  saw  Miss 
Yeal  at  a  distance  in  the  street,  which  was  full  of 
people,  as  it  happened  to  be  market-day,  but  before  she 
could  overtake  her,  her  friend  had  turned  round  a 
corner  and  disappeared. 

Upon  inquiry  it  appeared  that  Miss  Veal,  whom  she 
had  thus  seen,  whose  dress  she  had  touched,  and  with 
whom  she  had  conversed  for  nearly  two  hours,  had  died 
the  day  before !  "When  the  question  was  discussed  with 
the  relatives  of  the  deceased,  it  was  found  that  she  had 
communicated  several  secrets  to  her  Canterbury  friend. 
The  fact  that  her  dress  was  made  of  an  old  silk-stuff 
was  known  to  but  one  person,  who  had  done  the  clean- 
ing and  made  the  dress,  Avhich  she  recognized  instantly 
from  the  description.  She  had  also  acknowledged  to 


GHOSTS.  213 

Mrs.  Bargrave  her  indebtedness  to  a  Mr.  Breton  for  an 
annual  pension  of  ten  pounds,  a  fact  w^iich  had  been 
utterly  unknown  during  her  lifetime. 

In  Germany  a  number  of  such  cases  are  reported, 
and  often  by  men  whose  names  alone  would  give 
authority  to  their  statements.  Thus  the  philosopher 
Schopenhauer  (Parerga,  etc.,  I.  p.  277)  mentions  a  sick 
servant  girl  in  Frankfort  on  the  Main,  who  died  one 
night  at  the  Jewish  hospital  of  the  former  Free  City. 
Early  the  next  morning  her  sister  and  her  neice,  who 
lived  several  miles  from  town,  appeared  at  the  gate  of 
the  institution  to  make  inquiries  about  their  kinswoman. 
Both,  though  living  far  apart,  had  seen  her  distinctly 
during  the  preceding  night,  and  hence  their  anxiety. 
The  famous  writer  E.  M.  Arndt,  also,  quotes  a  number 
of  striking  revelations  which  were  in  this  manner 
made  to  a  lady  of  his  acquaintance.  Thus  he  was  once, 
in  1811,  visiting  the  Island  of  Rugen,  in  the  Baltic, 
and  having  been  actively  engaged  all  day,  was  sitting 
in  an  easy-chair,  quietly  nodding.  Suddenly  he  sees 
his  dear  old  aunt  Sophie  standing  before  him ;  on  her 
face  her  well-known  sweet  smile,  and  in  her  arms  her 
two  little  boys,  whom  he  loved  like  his  own.  She  was 
holding  them  out  to  him  as  if  she  wished  to  say  by  this 
gesture :  "  Take  care  of  the  little  ones ! "  The  next 
day  his  brother  joined  him  and  brought  him  the  newTs 
that  their  aunt  had  died  on  the  preceding  evening  at 
the  hour  when  she  had  appeared  to  Arndt.  Wieland, 
even,  by  no  means  given  to  credit  easily  accounts  of 


214  MODERN    MAGIC. 

supernatural  occurrences,  mentions  in  his  "Euthan- 
asia "  a  Protestant  lady  of  his  acquaintance,  whose  mind 
was  frequently  filled  with  extraordinary  visions.  She 
was  a  somnambulist,  and  subject  to  cataleptic  attacks. 
A  Benedictine  monk,  an  old  Mend  of  the  family,  had 
been  ordered  to  Bellinzona,  in  Switzerland,  but  his 
correspondence  with  his  friends  had  never  been  inter- 
rupted for  years.  Years  after  his  removal  the  above- 
mentioned  lady  was  taken  ill,  and  at  once  predicted 
the  day  and  hour  of  her  death.  On  the  appointed  day 
she  was  cheerful  and  perfectly  composed  ;  at  a  certain 
hour,  however,  she  raised  herself  slightly  on  her  couch, 
and  said  with  a  sweet  smile,  "  Xow  it  is  time  for  me  to 
go  and  say  good-bye  to  Father  C.  She  immediately 
fell  asleep,  then  awoke  again,  spoke  a  few  words,  and 
died.  At  the  same  hour  the  monk  was  sitting  in  Bel- 
linzona at  his  writing-table,  a  so-called  pandora,  a  mu- 
sical instrument,  by  his  side.  Suddenly  he  hears  a  noise 
like  an  explosion,  and  looking  up  startled,  sees  a  white 
figure,  in  whom  he  at  once  recognizes  his  distant  friend 
by  her  sweet  smile.  When  he  examined  his  instrument 
he  found  the  sounding-board  cracked,  which,  no  doubt, 
had  given  rise  to  his  hearing  what  he  considered  a 
"  warning  voice."  The  Rev.  Mr.  Oberlin,  well-known 
and  much  revered  in  Germany,  and  by  no  means  forgot- 
ten in  our  own  country,  where  a  prosperous  college  still 
bears  his  name,  declares  in  his  memoirs  that  he  had  for 
nine  years  constant  intercourse  with  his  deceased  wife. 
He  saw  her  for  the  first  time  after  her  death  in  broad 


GHOSTS.  215 

daylight  and  when  he  was  wide  awake;  afterwards  the 
conversations  were  carried  on  partly  in  the  day  and 
partly  at  night.  Other  people  in.  the  village  in  which 
he  lived  saw  her  as  well  as  himself.  Nor  was  it  by  the 
eye  only  that  the  pious,  excellent  man  judged  of  her 
presence ;  frequently,  when  he  extended  his  hand,  he 
would  feel  his  fingers  gently  pressed,  as  his  wife  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  doing  when  she  passed  by  him  and 
would  not  stop.  But  there  was  much  bitterness  and 
sorrow  also  mixed  up  with  the  sweetness  of  these  mys- 
terious relations.  The  passionate  attachment  of  hus- 
band and  wife  could  ill  brook  the  terrible  barrier  that 
separated  them  from  each  other,  and  often  the  latter 
would  look  so  wretched  and  express  her  grief  in  such 
heartrending  words  that  the  poor  minister  was  deeply 
afflicted.  The  impression  produced  on  his  mind  was 
that  her  soul,  forced  for  unknown  reasons  to  remain  for 
some  time  in  an  intermediate  state,  remained  warmly 
attached  to  earthly  friends  and  lamented  the  inability 
to  confer  with  them  after  the  manner  of  men.  After 
nine  years  the  husband's  visions  suddenly  ended  and 
he  was  informed  in  a  dream  that  his  wife  had  been  ad- 
mitted into  a  higher  heaven,  where  she  enjoyed  the 
promised  peace  with  her  Saviour,  but  could  no  longer 
commune  with  mortal  beings. 

It  is  well  known  that  even  the  great  reformer,  Mar- 
tin Luther,  knew  of  several  similar  cases,  and  in  his 
"  Table  Talk  "  mentions  more  than  one  remarkable  in- 
stance. 


216  MODEKN    MAGIC. 

Another  well-known  and  much  discussed  occurrence 
of  this  kind  happened  in  the  days  of  Mazarin,  and  cre- 
ated a  great  sensation  in  the  highest  circles  at  Paris.  A 
marquis  of  Eambouillet  and  a  marquis  of  Preci,  inti- 
mate friends,  had  agreed  to  inform  each  other  of  their 
iiite  after  death.  The  former  was  ordered  to  the  army 
in  Flanders,  while  the  other  remained  in  the  capital. 
Here  he  was  taken  ill  with  a  fever,  several  weeks  after 
parting  with  his  friend,  and  as  he  was  one  morning  to- 
wards 6  o'clock  lying  in  bed  awake,  the  curtains  were 
suddenly  drawn  aside,  and  his.  friend  dressed  as  usual, 
booted  and  spurred,  was  standing  before  him.  Over- 
joyed, he  was  about  to  embrace  him,  but  his  friend 
drew  back  and  said  that  he  had  come  only  to  keep  his 
promise  after  having  been  killed  in  a  skirmish  the  day 
before,  and  that  Preci  also  would  share  his  fate  in  the 
first  combat  in  which  he  should  be  engaged.  The  latter 
thinks  his  friend  is  joking,  jumps  up  and  tries  to 
seize  him — but  he  feels  nothing.  The  vision,  however, 
is  still  there ;  Rambouillet  even  shows  him  the  fatal 
wound  in  his  thigh  from  which  the  blood  seems  still  to 
be  flowing.  Then  only  he  disappears  and  Preci  re- 
mains utterly  overcome ;  at  last  he  summons  his  valet, 
rouses  the  whole  house,  and  causes  every  room  and 
every  passage  to  be  searched.  No  trace,  however,  is 
found,  and  the  whole  vision  is  attributed  to  his  fever. 
But  a  few  days  later  the  mail  arrives  from  Flanders, 
bringing  the  news  that  Eambouillet  had  really  fallen  in 
such  a  skirmish  and  died  from  a  wound  in  the  thigh  ; 


GHOSTS.  217 

the  prediction  also  was  fulfilled,  for  Preci  fell  afterwards 
in  his  first  fight  near  St.  Antoiiie  (Petaval,  Causes 
Catbres,  xii.  269). 

The  parents  of  the  well-known  writer  Schubert  were 
exceptionally  endowed  with  magic  powers  of  this  kind. 
The  father  once  heard,  as  he  thought  in  a  dream, 
the  voice  of  his  aged  mother,  who  called  upon  him  to 
come  and  visit  her  in  the  distant  town  in  which  she 
lived,  if  he  desired  to  see  her  once  more  before  she  died. 
He  rejected  the  idea  that  this  was  more  than  a  common 
dream ;  but  soon  he  heard  the  voice  repeating  the  warn- 
ing. Now  he  jumped  up  and  saw  his  mother  standing 
before  him, extending  her  hand  and  saying:  "  Christian 
Gottlob,  farewell,  and  may  God  bless  you;  you  will  not 
see  me  again  upon  earth,"  and  with  these  words  she 
disappeared.  Although  no  one  had  apprehended  such  a 
calamity,  she  had  actually  died  at  that  hour,  after 
expressing  in  her  last  moments  a  most  anxious  desire 
to  see  her  son  once  more. 

Tangible  perceptions  of  persons  dying  at  a  distance 
are,  of  course,  very  rare.  Still,  more  than  one  such 
case  is  authoritatively  stated;  among  these,  the  follow- 
ing :  A  lawyer  in  Paris  had  returned  home  and  walked, 
in  order  to  reach  his  own  bedroom,  through  that  of  his 
brother.  To  his  great  astonishment  he  saw  the  latter 
lying  in  his  bed;  received,  however,  no  answer  to  his 
questions.  Thereupon  he  walked  up  to  the  bed, 
touched  his  brother  and  found  the  body  icy  cold.  Of  a 
sudden  the  form  vanished  and  the  bed  was  empty.  At 

10 


218  MODERN    MAGIC. 

that  instant  it  flashed  through  his  mind  that  he  and 
his  brother  had  promised  each  other  that  the  one  dying 
first  should,  if  possible,  give  a  sign  to  the  survivor. 
When  he  recovered  from  the  deep  emotion  caused  by 
these  thoughts,  he  left  the  room  and  as  he  opened  the 
door  he  came  across  a  number  of  men  who  bore  the 
body  of  his  brother,  who  had  been  killed  by  a  fall  from 
his  horse  (La  Patrie,  Sept.  22,  1857).  The  Count  of 
Neuilly,  also,  was  warned  in  a  somewhat  similar  man- 
ner. He  was  at  college  and  on  the  point  of  paying  a 
visit  to  his  paternal  home,  when  a  letter  came  telling 
him  that  his  father  was  not  quite  well  and  that  he  had 
better  postpone  his  visit  a  few  days.  Later  letters  from 
his  mother  mentioned  nothing  to  cause  him  any  un- 
easiness. But  several  days  afterward,  at  one  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  he  thought,  apparently  in  a  dream,  that 
he  saw  a  pale  ghastly  figure  rise  slowly  at  the  lower  end 
of  his  bed,  extend  both  arms,  embrace  him  and  then 
sink  slowly  down  again  out  of  sight.  He  uttered  heart- 
rending cries,  and  fell  out  of  his  bed,  upsetting  a  chair 
and  a  table.  When  his  tutor  and  a  man-servant  rushed 
into  the  room,  they  found  him  lying  unconscious  on 
the  floor,  covered  with  cold,  clammy  perspiration  and 
strangely  disfigured.  As  soon  as  he  was  restored  to 
consciousness,  he  burst  out  into  tears  and  assured  them 
that  his  father  had  died  and  come  to  take  leave  of  him. 
In  vain  did  his  friends  try  to  calm  his  mind,  he  re- 
mained in  a  state  of  utter  dejection.  Three  days  later 
a  letter  came  from  his  mother,  bringing  him  the  sad 


GHOSTS.  219 

news,  that  his  father  had  died  on  that  night  and  at  the 
hour  in  which  he  had  appeared  by  his  bedside.  The 
unfortunate  Count  could  never  entirely  get  rid  of  the 
overwhelming  impression  which  this  occurrence  had 
made  on  his  mind,  and  was,  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
firmly  convinced  of  the  reality  of  this  meeting  (Dix 
Annees  d'  emigration,  Paris,  1865). 

We  learn  from  such  accounts  that  there  prevails 
among  all  men,  at  all  ages,  a  carefully  repressed,  but 
almost  irresistible  belief  in  supernatural  occurrences, 
and  in  the  close  proximity  of  the  spirit  world.  This 
belief  is  neither  to  be  treated  with  ridicule  nor  to  be 
objected  to  as  unchristian,  since  it  is  an  abiding  wit- 
ness that  men  entertain  an  ineradicable  conviction  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  Xo  arguments  can  ever 
destroy  in  the  minds  of  the  vast  majority  of  men  this 
innate  and  intuitive  faith.  We  may  decline  to  believe 
with  them  the  existence  of  supernatural  agencies,  as 
long  as  no  experimental  basis  is  offered  ;  but  we  ought, 
at  the  same  time,  to  be  willing  to  modify  our  incre- 
dulity as  soon  as  an  accumulation  of  facts  appear  to 
justify  us  in  so  doing.  Our  age  is  so  completely  given 
up  to  materialism  with  its  ceaseless  hurry  and  worry, 
that  we  ought  to  hail  with  a  sense  of  relief  new  powers 
which  require  examination,  and  which  offer  to  our  in- 
tellectual faculties  an  untrodden  field  of  investigation, 
full  of  incidents  refreshing  to  our  weary  mind,  and 
promising  rich  additions  to  our  store  of  knowledge. 

It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  there  is  at  least  a  pos- 


220  JIODEKX    MAGIC. 

sibility  of  the  existence  of  a  higher  spiritual  power 
within  us,  which,  often  slumbering  and  altogether  un- 
known, or  certainly  unobserved  during  life,  becomes 
suddenly  free  to  act  in  the  hour  of  death.  This  may 
be  brought  about  by  the  fact  that  at  that  time  the 
strength  of  the  body  is  exhausted,  and  earthly  wants 
no  longer  press  upon  us,  while  the  spiritual  part  of  our 
being,  largely  relieved  of  its  bondage,  becomes  active  in 
its  own  peculiar  way,  and  thus  acquires  a  power  which 
we  are  disposed  to  call  a  magic  power.  This  po\ver  is, 
of  course,  not  used  consciously,  for  consciousness  pre- 
supposes the  control  over  our  senses,  but  it  acts  by  in- 
tuitive impulse.  Hence  the  wide  difference  existing 
between  the  so-called  magic  of  charmers,  enchanters, 
and  conjurors,  justly  abhorred  and  strictly  prohibited 
by  divine  laws,  and  the  effects  of  such  supreme  efforts 
made  by  the  soul,  which  depend  upon  involuntary 
action,  and  are  never  made  subservient  to  wicked  pur- 
poses. 

The  results  of  such  exertions  are  generally  impres- 
sions made  apparently  upon  the  eye  or  the  ear ;  but  it 
need  not  be  said  that  what  is  seen  or  heard  in  such 
cases,  is  merely  the  effect  of  a  deeply  felt  sensation  in 
our  soul  which  seeks  an  outward  expression.  If  our 
innermost  being  is  thus  suddenly  appealed  to,  as  it 
were,  by  the  spirit  of  a  dying  friend  or  companion,  his 
image  arises  instantaneously  before  our  mind's  eye.  and 
we  fancy  we  see  him  in  bodily  form,  or  our  memory 
recalls  the  familiar  sounds  by  which  his  appearance 


GHOSTS.  '221 

was  wont  to  be  accompanied.  Dying  musicians  remind 
distant  friends  of  their  former  relations  by  sweet 
sounds,  and  a  sailor,  wounded  to  death,  appears  in  his 
uniform  to  relatives  at  home.  The  series  of  sights  and 
sounds  by  which  such  intercourse  is  established,  varies 
from  the  simplest  and  faintest  vision  to  an  apparently- 
clear  and  distinct  perception  of  well-known  forms,  and 
constitute  feeble,  hardly  perceptible,  sighs  or  sobs  to 
words  uttered  aloud,  or  whole  melodies  clearly  recited. 
If  a  living  person,  by  such  an  unconscious  but  all-power- 
ful effort  of  will,  makes  himself  seen  by  others,  we  call 
the  vision  a  "  double,"  in  German,  a  "  Doppelga'nger ;  " 
if  he  produces  a  state  of  dualism,  such  as  has  been  men- 
tioned before,  and  sees  his  own  self  in  space  before  him, 
we  speak  of  second  sight. 

Such  efforts  are,  however,  by  no  means  strictly  lim- 
ited to  the  moment  of  dissolution,  when  soul  and  body  are 
already  in  the  act  of  parting.  They  occur  also  in  living 
persons,  but  almost  invariably  only  in  diseased  persons. 
The  exceptions  belong  to  the  small  number  of  men  in 
whom  great  excitement  from  without,  or  a  mysterious 
power  of  will,  cause  a  state  of  ecstasy  ;  they  are,  in  com- 
mon parlance,  "  beside  themselves."  In  this  condition, 
their  soul  is  for  the  moment  freed  from  the  bondage  in 
which  it  is  held  by  its  earthy  companion,  and  such  men 
become  clairvoyants  and  prophets,  or  they  are  enabled 
actually  to  affect  other  men  at  a  distance,  in  various 
ways.  Thus  it  may  very  well  be,  that  strange  visions, 
the  hearing  of  mysterious  voices,  and  especially  the 


222  MODERN    MAGIC. 

most  familiar  phenomenon,  second  sight,  are  in  reality 
nothing  more  than  symptoms  of  a  thoroughly  diseased 
system,  and  this  explains  very  simply  the  frequency 
with  which  death  follows  such  mysterious  occurrences. 

Men  have  claimed — and  proved  to  the  satisfaction  of 
more  or  less  considerable  numbers  of  friends — that  they 
could  at  will  cause  a  partial  and  momentary  parting  be- 
tween their  souls  and  their  bodies.  Here  also  antiquity  is 
our  first  teacher,  if  we  believe  Pliny  (Hist.  Xnl.  vii.  c. 
52),  Hermotimus  could  at  his  pleasure  fall  into  a  trance 
and  then  let  his  soul  proceed  from  his  body  to  distant 
places.  Upon  being  aroused,  he  reported  what  he  had 
seen  and  heard  abroad,  and  his  statements  were,  in  every 
case,  fully  confirmed.  Cardanus,  also,  could  volun- 
tarily throw  himself  into  a  state  of  apparent  syncope,  as 
he  tells  us  in  most  graphic  words  (De  Res.  Var.  v.  iii.  1. 
viii.  c.  43).  The  first  sensation  of  which  he  was  always 
fully  conscious,  was  a  peculiar  pain  in  the  head,  which 
gradually  extended  downward  along  the  spine,  and  at 
last  spread  over  the  extremities — evidently  a  purely 
nervous  process.  Then  he  felt  as  if  a  "  door  was  opened, 
and  he  himself  was  leaving  his  body,"  whereupon  he 
not  only  saw  persons  at  a  distance,  but  noticed  all  that 
befell  them,  and  recalled  it  after  he  had  recovered  from 
the  trance.  An  old  German  Abbe,  Freitheim,  of  whose 
remai'kable  work  on  Stcganograpliie  (1651),  unfortun- 
ately only  a  few  sheets  have  been  preserved,  claims  the 
power  to  commune  with  absent  friends  by  the  mere  en- 
ergy of  his  will.  "  I  can,"  says  he,  <•'  make  known  my 


GHOSTS.  223 

thoughts  to  the  initiated,  at  a  distance  of  many  hundred 
miles,  without  word,  writing  or  cypher,  by  any  messenger. 
The  latter  cannot  betray  me,  for  he  knows  nothing. 
If  needs  be,  I  can  even  dispense  with  the  messenger. 
If  my  correspondent  should  be  buried  in  the  deepest 
dungeon  I  could  still  convey  to  him  my  thoughts  as 
clearly,  as  fully,  and  as  frequently  as  might  be  desir- 
able, and  all  this,  quite  simply,  without  superstition, 
without  the  aid  of  spirits." 

The  famous  Agrippa  (De  occulta  philos.,  Lugdimi, 
III.  ^>.  13)  quotes  the  former  writer,  and  asserts 
that  he  also  could,  by  mere  effort  of  will,  in  a 
perfectly  simple  and  natural  manner  convey  his 
thoughts  not  to  the  initiated  only,  but  to  any  one, 
even  when  his  correspondent's  present  place  of  resi- 
dence should  be  unknown.  The  most  remarkable, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  best  authenticated  case 
of  this  kind,  is  that  of  a  high  German  official  men- 
tioned in  a  scientific  paper  (Xasse.  Zeitsclirift  fur 
psychische  Aerzfe,  1820),  and  frequently  copied  into 
others.  A  Counsellor  Wesermann  claimed  to  be  able 
to  cause  distant  friends  to  dream  of  any  subject  he 
might  choose.  Whenever  he  awoke  at  night  and  made 
a  determined  eifort  to  produce  such  an  effect,  he  never 
failed,  provided  the  nature  of  the  desired  dream  was 
calculated  to  startle  or  deeply  excite  his  friends.  His 
power  was  tested  in  this  manner.  He  engaged  to  cause 
a  young  officer,  who  was  stationed  at  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
nearly  fifty  miles  from  his  own  home,  to  dream  of  a 


224  MODERN    MAGIC. 

young  lady  who  had  died  not  long  ago.  It  was  eleven 
o'clock  at  night,  but  by  some  accident  the  lieutenant 
was  not  at  home  in  bed,  but  at  a  friend's  country-seat, 
discussing  the  French  campaign.  Suddenly  the  col- 
onel, his  host,  and  he  himself  see  at  the  same  time  the 
door  open,  a  lady  enter,  salute  them  sadly,  and  beckon 
them  to  follow  her.  The  two  officers  rise  and  leave  the 
room  after  her,  but  once  out  of  doors,  the  figure  disap- 
pears, and  when  they  inquire  of  the  sentinels  standing 
guard  outside,  they  are  told  that  no  one  has  entered. 
What  made  the  matter  more  striking  yet,  was  the  fact 
that  although  both  men  had  seen  the  door  open,  this 
could  not  really  have  been  so,  for  the  wood  had  sprung 
and  the  door  creaked  badly  whenever  it  was  opened. 
The  same  Wesermann  could,  in  like  manner,  cause  his 
friends  to  see  his  own  person  and  to  hear  secrets  which 
he  seemed  to  whisper  into  their  ears  whenever  he 
chose ;  but  he  admitted  upon  it  that  his  will  was  not 
at  all  times  equally  strong,  and  that,  hence,  his  efforts 
were  not  always  equally  successful.  Cases  of  similar 
powers  are  yery  numerous.  A  very  curious  example 
was  published  in  1852,  in  a  work  on  "Psychologic 
Studies  "  (Schlemmer,  p.  59).  The  author,  who  was  a 
police  agent  in  the  Prussian  service,  asserted  that  per- 
sons who  apprehended  being  conducted  to  gaol  with 
special  anxiety,  often  made  themselves  known  there  in 
advance,  announcing  their  arrival  by  knocks  at  the 
gates,  opening  of  doors,  or  footsteps  heard  in  the  room 
set  aside  for  examining  new  comers.  One  dav,  not  the 


GHOSTS.       .  225 

writer  only,  but  all  the  prisoners  in  the  same  building, 
and  even  the  sentinel  at  the  gate  heard  distinctly  a 
great  disturbance  and  the  rattling  of  chains  in  a  cell 
exclusively  appropriated  to  murderers.  The  next  day 
a  criminal  was  brought  who  had  expressed  such  horror 
of  this  gaol,  and  made  such  resistance  to  the  officials 
who  were  to  carry  him  there,  that  it  had  become  neces- 
sary, after  a  great  uproar,  to  chain  him  hands  and  feet. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  mother  of  the  great  statesman 
Canning  at  one  time  of  her  life  suffered  under  most 
mysterious  though  harmless  nightly  visitations.  Her 
circumstances  were  such  that  she  readily  accepted  the 
offer  of  a  dwelling  which  stood  unoccupied,  with  the 
exception  of  the  basement,  in  which  a  carpenter  had 
his  workshop.  At  nightfall  he  and  his  workmen  left 
the  house,  carefully  locking  the  door,  but  night  after 
night,  at  twelve  o'clock  precisely,  work  began  once 
more  in  the  abandoned  part  of  the  house,  as  far  as  the 
ear  could  judge,  and  the  noise  made  by  planing  and 
sawing,  cutting  and  carving  increased,  till  the  fearless 
old  lady  slipt  down  in  her  stocking  feet  and  opened  the 
door.  Instantly  the  noise  was  hushed,  and  she  looked 
into  the  dark  deserted  room.  But  as  soon  as  she  re- 
turned to  her  chamber  the  work  began  anew,  and  con- 
tinued for  some  time ;  nor  was  she  the  only  one  who 
heard  it,  but  others,  the  owner  of  the  house  included, 
heard  everything  distinctly. 

The  following  well-autheuticated  account  of  a  pos- 
thumous appearance,  is  not  without  its  ludicrous  ele- 


220  MODERN    MAGIC. 

ment.  A  court-preacher  in  one  of  the  little  Saxon 
Duchies,  appeared  once  in  bands  and  gowns  before  his 
sovereign,  bowing  most  humbly  and  reverently.  The 
duke  asked  what  he  desired,  but  received  no  answer  ex- 
cept another  deep  reverence.  A  second  question  meets 
with  the  same  reply,  whereupon  the  divine  leaves  the 
room,  descends  the  stairs  and  crosses  the  court-yard, 
while  the  prince,  much  surprised  at  his  strange  conduct, 
stands  at  a  window  and  watches  him  till  he  reaches  the 
gates.  Then  he  sends  a  page  after  him  to  try  and  as- 
certain what  was  the  matter  with  the  old  gentleman, 
but  the  page  comes  running  back  almost  beside  himself, 
and  reports  that  the  minister  had  died  a  short  while 
before.  The  prince  refuses  to  believe  his  report,  and 
sends  a  high  official,  but  the  latter  returns  with  the 
same  report  and  this  additional  information  :  The  dy- 
ing man  had  asked  for  writing  materials,  in  order  to 
recommend  his  widow  to  his  sovereign,  but  had  hardly 
commenced  writing  the  letter  when  death  surprised 
him.  The  fragment  was  brought  to  the  duke  and  con- 
vinced him  that  his  faithful  servant,  unable  to  reach  him 
by  letter,  and  yet  nervously  anxious  to  approach  him, 
had  spiritually  appeared  to  him  in  his  most  familiar  cos- 
tume (Daumer,  Mystagog.  I.  p.  224). 

Before  we  regret  such  statements  or  treat  them  with 
ridicule,  it  will  be  well  to  remember,  that  men  endowed 
with  an  extraordinary  power  of  controlling  certain  fac- 
ulties of  body  and  soul,  are  by  no  means  rare,  and  that 
the  difference  between  them  and  those  last  mentioned, 


GHOSTS.  227 

consists  only  in  the  degree.  We  speak  of  the  power  of 
sight  and  limit  it  ordinarily  to  a  certain  distance — and 
yet  a  Hottentot,  we  are  told,  can  perceive  the  head  of  a 
gazelle  in  the  dry,  uniform  grass  of  an  African  plain,  at 
the  distance  of  a  thousand  yards!  Many  men  cannot 
hear  sounds  in  nature  which  are  perfectly  audible  to 
others,  while  some  persons  hear  even  certain  notes 
littered  by  tiny  insects^,  which  escape  altogether  the 
average  hearing  of  man.  Patients  under  treatment  by 
Baron  Reichenbach,  saw  luminous  objects  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  lights  hovering  above  ground,  where  neither 
he  nor  any  of  his  friends  could  perceive  anything  but 
utter  darkness,  and  the  special  gift  with  which  some 
persons  are  endowed  to  feel,  as  it  were,  the  presence  of 
water  and  of  metals  below  the  surface,  is  well  authenti- 
cated. Poor  Caspar  Hauser,  bred  in  darkness  and  soli- 
tude, felt  various  and  deep  impressions  upon  his  W'hole 
being  during  the  first  months  of  his  free  life,  whenever 
he  came  in  contact  with  plants,  stones  or  metals.  The 
latter  sent  a  current  through  all  his  limbs ;  tobacco  fields 
made  him  deadly  sick,  and  the  vicinity  of  a  graveyard 
gave  him  violent  pains  in  his  chest.  Persons  who  were 
introduced  to  him  for  the  first  time,  sent  a  cold  current 
through  him ;  and  when  they  possessed  a  specially  power- 
ful physique,  they  caused  him  abundant  perspiration,  and 
often  even  convulsions.  The  waves  of  sound  he  felt  so 
much  more  acutely  than  others,  that  he  always  contin- 
ued to  hear  them  with  delight,  long  after  the  last  sound 
had  passed  away  from  the  ears  of  others.  Tt  maybe  fairly 


228  MODEKX     MA  (.1C. 

presumed  that  this  extreme  sensitiveness  to  outward  im- 
pressions is  originally  possessed  by  all  men,  but  becomes 
gradually  dulled  and  dimmed  by  constant  repetition  ;  at 
the  same  time  it  may  certainly  be  preserved  in  rare  privi- 
leged cases,  or  it  may  come  back  again  to  the  body  in 
a  diseased  or  disordered  condition,  and  at  the  moment 
of  dissolution. 

Nor  is  the  power  occasionally  granted  to  men  to  con- 
trol their  senses  limited  to  these  ;  even  the  spontaneous 
functions  of  the  body  are  at  times  subject  to  the  will  of 
man.  An  Englishman,  for  instance,  could  at  will  mod- 
ify the  beating  of  his  heart  (Cheyne,  "Xew  Dis.,"  p.  307), 
and  a  German  produced,  like  a  veritable  ruminant,  the 
antiperistaltic  motions  of  the  stomach,  whenever  he 
chose  (Blumenbach,  Phys.  §  294).  Other  men  have 
been  known  who  could  at  any  moment  cause  the  famil- 
iar "goose-skin,"  or  perspiration,  to  appear  in  any  part 
of  the  body,  and  many  persons  can  move  not  only  the 
ears — a  lost  faculty  according  to  Darwin — but  even  en- 
large or  contract  the  pupil  of  the  eye,  after  the  manner 
of  cats  and  parrots.  Even  the  circulation  of  the  blood  has 
been  known,  in  a  few  rare  cases,  to  have  been  subject  to 
the  will  of  men,  and  the  great  philosopher  Kant  did  not 
hesitate  to  affirm,  supported  as  he  was  by  his  own  ex- 
perience, that  men  could,  if  they  were  but  resolute 
enough,  master,  by  a  mere  effort  of  the  will,  not  a  few  of 
their  diseases. 

A  striking  evidence  of  the  comparative  facility  with 
which  men' thus 'exceptionally  gifted,  may  be  able  to 


GHOSTS.  229 

imitate  certain  magic  phenomena,  was  once  given  by  an 
excellent  mimic,  whom  Richard  describes  in  his  T/teorie 
des  Songes.  He  could  change  his  features  so  complete- 
ly that  they  assumed  a  deathlike  appearance;  his 
senses  lost  gradually  their  power  of  perception,  aud  the 
vital  spirit  was  seen  to  withdraw  from  the  outer  world. 
A  slow,  quivering  motion  passed  through  his  whole  sys- 
tem from  the  feet  upward,  as  if  he  wished  to  rise  from 
the  ground.  After  a  while  all  efforts  of  the  body  to 
remain  upright  proved  fruitless ;  it  looked  as  if  life  had 
actually  begun  to  leave  it  already.  At  this  moment  he 
abandoned  his  deception  and  was  so  utterly  exhausted 
that  he  heard  and  saw  but  with  extreme  difficulty. 

In  the  face  of  these  facts  the  possibility  at  least  can- 
not be  denied  that  certain  specially  endowed  individu- 
als may  possess,  in  health  or  in  disease,  the  power  to 
perceive  phenomena  which  appear  all  the  more  marvel- 
ous because  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  pow- 
ers of  perception. 

In  our  own  day  superstition  and  wanton,  or  cunning- 
ly devised,  imposture  have  been  so  largely  mixed  up 
with  the  subject,  that  a  strong  and  very  natural  preju- 
dice has  gradually  grown  up  against  the  belief  in  ghosts. 
Every  strange  appearance,  every  mysterious  coinci- 
dence,  that  escaped  the  most  superficial  investigation, 
was  forthwith  called  a  ghost.  History  records,  besides, 
numerous  cases  in  which  the  credulity  of  great  men 
has  been  played  upon  for  purposes  of  policy  and  state- 
craft. "When  the  German  Emperor  Joseph  showed  his 


200  MODERN    MAGIC. 

great  fondness  of  Augustus  of  Saxon}' — afterwards 
king  of  Poland  —  his  Austrian  counsellors  became 
alarmed  at  the  possible  influence  of  such  intimacy  of 
their  sovereign  with  a  Protestant  prince,  and  determin- 
ed to  break  it  off.  Night  after  night,  therefore,  a  fear- 
ful vision  arose  before  the  German  emperor,  rattling  its 
chains  and  accusing  the  young  prince  of  grievous  her- 
esy. Augustus,  however,  known  already  at  that  time 
for  his  gigantic  strength,  asked  Joseph's  permission  to 
sleep  in  his  room ;  when  the  ghost  appeared  as  usual, 
the  young  prince  sprang  upon  him.  and  feeling  his 
flesh  and  blood,  threw  him  bodily  out  of  a  window  of 
the  second  story  into  a  deep  fosse.  The  unfortunate 
king  of  Prussia,  Fredei'ick  William  II.,  fell  soon  after 
his  ascension  of  the  throne  into  the  hands  of  designing 
men,  who  determined  to  profit  by  his  great  kindness  of 
heart  and  his  tendency  to  mysticism,  and  began  to 
work  upon  him  by  supernatural  apparitions.  One  of 
the  most  cunningly  devised  impostures  of  the  kind 
was  practised  upon  King  Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden  by 
ambitious  noblemen  of  his  court. 

The  scene  was  the  ancient  Lofoe  church  in  Dro- 
tingholm,  a  favorite  residence  of  former  Swedish  mon- 
archs.  The  king's  physician,  Iven  Hediu,  learnt  acci- 
dentally from  the  sexton  that  his  master  had  been 
spending  several  nights  in  the  building,  in  company 
with  a  few  of  his  courtiers.  Alarmed  by  this  informa- 
tion he  persuaded  the  sexton  to  let  him  watch  the  pro- 
ceedings from  a  secret  place  in  the  old  steeple  of  the 


GHOSTS.  231 

cliurch.  An  opportunity  came  in  the  month  of  Au- 
gust, 1785.  and  he  had  scarcely  taken  possession  of 
his  post  when  two  of  the  royal  secretaries  came  in, 
closed  the  door,  and  arranged  a  curious  contrivance  in 
the  body  of  the  building.  To  his  great  surprise  and 
amusement  the  doctor  saw  them  fasten  some  horse-hairs 
to  the  heavy  chandeliers  suspended  from  the  lofty  ceil- 
ing. ;md  then  pin  to  them  masks  sewed  on  to  white 
lluating  garments.  Finally  large  quantities  of  incense 
were  scattered  on  the  floor  and  set  on  fire,  while  all 
lights,  save  a  few  thin  candles,  were  extinguished. 
Then  the  king  was  ushered  in  with  five  of  his  courtiers, 
made  to  assume  a  peculiar,  very  irksome  position,  and 
all  were  asked  to  hold  naked  swords  upon  each  other's 
breasts.  Thereupon  the  first  comer  murmured  certain 
formulas  of  conjuration,  and  performed  some  cere- 
monies, when  his  companion  slowly  drew  up  one  of  the 
masks.  It  was  fashioned  to  resemble  the  great  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus,  and  in  the  dimly-lighted  church,  filled 
with  dense  smoke,  it  looked  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
like  a  ghost  arising  from  the  vaults  underneath.  It 
disappeared  as  slowly  into  the  darkness  above,  and  was 
immediately  followed  by  another  mask  representing 
Adolphus  Frederick,  and  even  the  physician,  who  knew 
the  secret,  could  not  repress  a  shudder,  so  admirably 
was  the  whole  contrived.  Then  followed  a  few  flashes 
of  lightning,  during  which  the  horse-hairs  were  re- 
moved, lights  were  brought  in,  and  the  king,  deeply 
moved  and  shedding  silent  tears,  escorted  from  the 


232  MODERN    MAGIC. 

building.  The  faithful  physician  watched  his  oppor- 
tunity, and  when  a  favorable  hour  appeared,  revealed 
the  secret  to  his  master,  and  thus,  fortunately  for 
Sweden,  defeated  a  very  dangerous  and  most  skillfully- 
conducted  conspiracy. 

Even  ventriloquism  has  lent  its  aid  to  many  an  his- 
torical imposture,  as  in  the  case  of  Francis  I.  of  France, 
whose,  valet,  Louis  of  Brabant,  possessed  great  skill  in 
that  art,  and  used  it  unsparingly  for  his  own  benefit 
and  to  the  advantage  of  courtiers  who  employed  him 
for  political  purposes.  He  even  persuaded  the  mother 
of  a  beautiful  and  wealthy  young  lady  to  give  him  her 
daughters  hand  by  imitating  the  voice  of  her  former 
husband,  and  commanding  her  to  do  so  in  order  to 
release  him  from  purgatory  ! 

We  fear  that  to  this  class  of  ghostly  appearances 
must  also  be  counted  the  almost  historical  White  Lady 
of  the  Margraves  of  Brandenburg. 

Report  says  that  she  represents  a  Countess  Kunigunde 
of  Orlamunde,  who  lived  in  the  fourteenth  century 
and  killed  her  two  children,  for  which  crime  she  was 
executed  by  order  of  a  Burggrave  of  Xuremberg.  His- 
tory, however,  knows  nothing  of  such  an  event,  and 
the  White  Lady  does  not  appear  till  148G,  when  she  is 
first  seen  in  the  old  palace  at  Baireuth.  This  was  noth- 
ing but  a  trick  of  the  courtiers;  whenever  they  desired 
to  leave  the  dismal  town  and  the  uncomfortable  build- 
ing, one  of  the  court  ladies  personated  the  ghost,  and 
occasionally,  even  two  white  ladies  were  seen  at  the 


GHOMX  '23:> 

same  time.  In  1540  the  ghost  met  with  a  tragic  fate ; 
it  had  appeared  several  times  in  the  castle  of  Margrave 
Albert  the  warrior,  and  irritated  the  prince  to  such  a 
degree  that  he  at  last  seized  it  one  night  and  hurled  it 
headlong  down  the  long  staircase.  The  morning  dawn 
revealed  his  chancellor,  Christopher  Strass,  who  had  be- 
trayed his  master  and  now  paid  with  a  broken  neck  for 
his  bold  imposture.  After  this  catastrophe  the  White 
Lady  was  not  seen  for  nearly  a  hundred  years,  when  she 
suddenly  reappeared  in  Baireuth.  In  the  year  1677  the 
then  reigning  Margrave  of  Brandenburg  found  her  one 
day  sitting  in  his  own  chair  and  was  terrified;  the  next 
day  he  rode  out,  fell  from  his  horse,  and  was  instantly 
killed.  From  this  time  the  White  Lady  became  a  part 
of  the  history  of  the  house  of  Brandenburg,  accompany- 
ing the  princes  to  Berlin  and  making  it  her  duty  to 
forewarn  the  illustrious  family  of  any  impending  ca- 
lamity. King  Frederick  I.  saw  her  distinctly,  but  other 
sovereigns  discerned  only  a  vague  outline  and  now  and 
then  the  nose  and  eyes,  while  all  the  rest  was  closely 
veiled.  In  the  old  palace  at  Baireuth  there  exist  to  this 
day  two  portraits  of  the  White  Lady,  one  in  white,  as 
she  appeared  of  old,  and  very  beautiful,  the  other  in 
black  satin,  with  her  hair  powdered  and  dressed  after 
more  modern  fashion — there  is  no  likeness  between  the 
two  faces.  The  ghost  was  evidently  a  good  patriot,  for 
she  disturbed  French  officers  who  were  quartered  there, 
in  the  new  palace  as  well  as  in  the  old,  and  as  late  as 
1806  thoroughly  frightened  a  number  of  generals  who 


334  MODERN    MAGIC. 

hud  laughed  at  the  credulity  of  the  Germans.  lu  1809 
General  d'Espague  roused  his  aids  in  the  depth  of  night 
by  fearful  cries,  and  when  they  rushed  in  he  was  found 
lying  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  under  the  bedstead. 
He  told  them  that  the  White  Lady,  in  a  costume  of 
black  and  white,  resembling  one  of  the  portraits,  had 
appeared  and  threatened  to  strangle  him ;  in  the  strug- 
gle she  had  dragged  the  bedstead  to  the  middle  of  the 
room  and  there  upset  it.  The  room  was  thoroughly 
searched  at  his  command,  the  hangings  removed  from 
the  walls,  and  the  whole  floor  taken  up,  but  no  trace 
was  found  of  any  opening  through  which  a  person 
might  have  entered ;  the  doors  had  been  guarded  by 
sentinels.  The  general  left  the  place  immediately, 
looking  upon  the  vision  as  a  warning  of  impending 
evil,  and,  sure  enough,  a  few  days  later  he  found  his 
death  upon  the  battle-field  of  Aspern.  Even  the  great 
Kapoleon,  whose  superstition  was  generally  thought  to 
be  confined  to  his  faith  in  his  "  star,"  would  not  lodge 
in  the  rooms  haunted  by  the  "White  Lady,  and  when  he 
reached  Baireuth  in  1812,  a  suite  of  rooms  was  prepared 
for  him  in  another  wing  of  the  palace.  It  was,  how- 
ever, noticed  that  even  there  his  night's  rest  must  have 
been  interrupted,  for  on  the  next  morning  he  was  re- 
markably nervous  and  out  of  humor,  murmuring 
repeatedly  "  Ce  maudit  chateau"  and  declaring  that  lie 
would  never  again  stay  at  the  place.  When  he  returned 
to  that  neighborhood  in  1813,  he  refused  to  occupy  the 
rooms  that  had  been  prepared  for  him,  and  continued 


GHOSTS.  235 

his  journey  far  into  the  night,  rather  than  remain  at 
Bairenth.  The  town  was,  however,  forever  relieved  of 
its  ill-fame  after  1822.  It  is  not  without  interest  that 
in  the  same  year  the  steward  of  the  royal  palace  died, 
and  report  says  in  his  rooms  were  found  a  number  of 
curiosities  apparently  connected  with  the  White  Lady's 
costume ;  if  this  be  so,  his  ardent  patriotism  and  fierce 
hatred  of  the  French  might  well  furnish  a  cue  to  some 
of  the  more  recent  apparitions.  The  White  Lady  con- 
tinued to  appear  in  Berlin,  and  the  terror  she  created 
was  not  even  allayed  by  repeated  discoveries  of  most 
absurd  efforts  at  imposture.  Once  she  turned  out  to  be 
a  white  towel  agitated  by  a  strong  draught  between  two 
windows;  at  another  time  it  was  a  kitchen-maid  on  an 
errand  of  love,  and  a  third  time  an  old  cook  taking  an 
airing  in  the  deserted  rooms.  She  appeared  once  more 
in  the  month  of  February,  1820,  announcing,  as  many 
believed,  the  death  of  the  reigning  monarch,  whicli 
took  place  in  June;  and  quite  recently  (1872)  similar 
warning  was  given  shortly  before  the  emperor's  brother, 
Prince  Albrecht,  died  in  his  palace. 

White  ladies  are,  however,  by  no  means  an  exclusive 
privilege  of  the  house  of  Brandenburg;  Scotland  has 
its  ancient  legends,  skillfully  used  in  novel,  poem  and 
opera,  and  Italy  boasts  of  a  Donna  Bianca,  at  Colalta, 
in  the  Marca  Erivigiana,  of  whom  Byron  spoke  as  if  he 
had  never  doubted  her  existence.  Ireland  has  in  like 
manner  the  Banshee,  who  warns  with  her  plaintive 
voice  the  descendants  of  certain  old  families,  whenever 


236  MODERN   MAGIC. 

a  great  calamity  threatens  one  of  the  members.  Curi- 
ously enough  she  clings  to  these  once  powerful  but 
now  often  wretchedly  poor  families,  as  if  pride  of 
descent  and  attachment  to  old  splendor  prevailed  even 
in  the  realms  of  magic. 

Historical  ghosts  play,  nevertheless,  a  prominent  part 
in  all  countries.  Lilly,  Baxter  and  Clarendon,  all 
relate  the  remarkable  warnings  which  preceded  the 
murder  of  Villiers,  Duke  of  Buckingham.  In  this  case 
the  warning  was  given  not  to  the  threatened  man,  but 
to  an  old  and  faithful  friend,  who  had  already  been 
intimate  with  the  duke's  father.  He  saw  the  latter 
appear  to  him  several  nights  in  succession,  urging  him 
to  go  to  the  duke,  and  after  revealing  to  him  certain 
peculiar  circumstances,  to  warn  him  against  the  plots 
of  his  enemies,  who  threatened  his  life.  Parker  was 
afraid  to  appear  ridiculous  and  delayed  giving  the 
warning.  But  the  ghost  left  him  no  peace,  and  at  last, 
in  order  to  decide  him,  revealed  to  him  a  secret  only 
known  to  himself  and  his  ill-fated  son.  The  latter, 
when  his  old  friend  at  last  summoned  courage  to 
deliver  the  mysterious  message,  was  at  first  inclined  to 
laugh  at  the  warning;  but  when  Parker  mentioned  the 
father's  secret,  he  turned  pale  and  declared  only  the 
Evil  One  could  have  entrusted  it  to  mortal  man. 
Nevertheless,  he  took  no  steps  to  rid  himself  of  his 
traitorous  friend  and  continued  his  sad  life  as  before. 
The  father's  ghost  thereupon  appeared  once  more  to 
Parker,  with  deep  sadness  in  his  features  and  hold- 


GHOSTS.  237 

ing  a  knife  in  his  hand,  with  which,  he  said,  his 
unfortunate  son  would  be  murdered.  Parker,  whose 
own  impending  death  had  been  predicted  at  the  same 
time,  once  more  waited  upon  the  great  duke,  but  again 
in  vain  ;  he  was  rudely  sent  back  and  requested  not  to 
trouble  the  favorite's  peace  any  more  by  his  foolish 
dreams.  A  few  days  afterwards  Lieutenant  Felton 
assassinated  the  duke  with  precisely  such  a  knife  as 
Parker  had  seen  in  his  visions. 

A  similar  occurrence  is  related  of  the  famous  Duchess 
of  Mazariu,  the  favorite  of  Charles  II.,  and  Madame  de 
Beauclair,  who  stood  in  the  same  relation  to  James  II. 
The  two  ladies,  who  were  bosom  friends,  had  pledged 
their  word  to  each  other,  that  she  who  died  first  should 
appear  to  the  survivor  and  inform  her  of  the  nature  of  the 
future  state.  The  duchess  died ;  but  as  no  message  came 
from  her,  her  friend  denied  stoutly  and  persistently  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  But  many  years  later,  when 
the  promise  was  long  forgotten,  the  duchess  suddenly 
was  seen  one  night,  gliding  softly  through  the  room 
and  looking  sweetly  at  her  friend,  whispering  to  her : 
"  Beauclair,  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  to-night 
you  will  be  near  me."  The  poor  lady  died  at  the 
appointed  hour  (Nork.  "  Existence  of  Spirits,"  p.  260). 
Less  well-authenticated  is  the  account  of  a  warning 
given  to  King  George  I.  shortly  before  his  death, 
although  it  was  generally  believed  throughout  England 
at  the  time  it  occurred.  The  report  was  that 
the  Queen,  Sophia,  repeatedly  showed  herself  to  her 


238  3IODERX    MAGIC. 

husband,  beseeching  him  to  break  off  his  intercourse 
with  his  beautiful  friend,  Lady  Horatia.  As  these 
requests  availed  nothing,  and  the  monarch  refused  even 
to  believe  in  the  reality  of  her  appearance,  she  at  last 
tied  a  knot  in  a  lace  collar,  declaring  that  "  if  mortal 
fingers  could  untie  the  knot,  the  king  and  Lady 
Horatia  might  laugh  at  her  words."  The  fair  lady 
tried  her  best  to  undo  it,  but  giving  it  up  in  despair, 
she  threw  the  collar  into  the  fire;  the  king,  highly 
excited,  snatched  the  lace  from  the  burning  coals,  but 
in  so  doing,  touched  with  it  the  light  gauze  dress  of 
his  companion.  In  her  terror  she  ran  with  great  swift- 
ness through  room  after  room,  thus  fanning  the  flames 
into  a  blaze,  and  perished  amid  excruciating  pains. 
The  king,  it  is  well  known,  died  only  two  months 
later. 

A  case  which  created  a  very  great  sensation  at  the 
time  when  it  happened,  and  became  generally  known 
through  the  admirable  manner  in  which  it  was  nar- 
rated by  the  eloquent  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre  (Jour- 
nal de  Trevoux,  vol.  viii.),  was  that  of  the  priest  Bezuel. 
When  a  young  man  of  15,  and  at  college,  he  contracted 
an  intimate  friendship  with  the  son  of  a  royal  official, 
called  Desfontaines.  The  two  friends  often  spoke  of  future 
life,  and  when  parted  in  1696,  they  signed  with  their 
blood  a  solemn  compact,  in  which  they  agreed  that  the 
first  who  died  should  appear  after  death  to  the  survivor. 
They  wrote  to  each  other  constantly,  and  frequently 
alluded  in  their  letters  to  the  agreement.  A  year  after 


GHOSTS.  239 

their  parting,  Beziiel  happened  to  be,  one  day,  in  the 
fields,  delivering  a  message  to  some  workmen,  when  he 
suddenly  fell  down  fainting.  As  he  was  in  perfect  health, 
he  knew  not  what  to  think  of  this  accident,  hut  when 
it  occurred  a  second  and  a  third  time,  at  the  same  hour, 
on  the  two  following  days,  he  became  seriously  uneasy. 
On  the  last  occasion,  however,  he  fell  into  a  trance,  in 
which  he  saw  nothing  around  him,  but  beheld  his  friend 
Desfontaines,  who  seized  him  by  the  arm  and  led  him 
some  thirty  yards  aside.  The  Avorkmen  saw  him  go 
there,  as  if  obeying  a  guardian  hand,  and  converse  with 
an  unseen  person  for  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  The 
young  man  heard  here  from  his  friend's  lips,  that  he 
had  been  drowned  while  bathing  in  the  river  Orne  on 
the  day  and  at  the  hour  when  Bezuel  had  had  his  first 
fainting  fit,  that  a  companion  had  endeavored  to  save 
him,  but  when  seized  by  the  foot  by  the  drowning  man, 
had  kicked  him  on  the  chest,  and  thus  caused  him  to 
sink  to  the  bottom.  Bezuel  inquired  after  all  the  de- 
tails and  received  full  answers,  but  none  to  questions 
about  the  future  life;  nevertheless,  the  apparition  con- 
tinued to  speak  fluently  but  calmly,  and  requested  Bez- 
uel to  make  certain  communications  to  his  kinsmen, 
and  to  repeat  the  "  seven  penitential  psalms,"  which  he 
ought  to  have  said  himself  as  a  penance.  It  also  men- 
tioned the  work  in  which  Desfontaines  had  been  en- 
gaged up  to  the  day  of  his  death,  and  some  names  which 
he  had  cut  in  the  bark  of  a  tree  near  the  town  in  which 
he  lived.  Then  it  disappeared.  Bezuel  was  not  able  to 


240  MODEEX    MAGIC. 

carry  out  his  friend's  wishes,  although  the  arm  by  which 
he  had  been  seized,  reminded  him  daily  of  his  duty  by 
a  severe  pain ;  after  a  mouth,  the  drowned  man  appeared 
twice  more,  urging  his  requests,  and  saying  each  time 
at  the  end  of  the  interview,  "  bis,  bis"  just  as  he  had 
been  accustomed  to  do  when  in  life.  At  last  the  young 
priest  found  the  means  to  do  his  friend's  bidding ;  the 
pain  in  the  arm  ceased  instantly  and  his  health  remain- 
ed perfect  to  the  end  of  his  life.  When  he  reached  Caen 
where  Desfontaines  had  perished,  he  found  everything 
precisely  as  he  had  been  told  in  his  visions,  and  two 
years  afterwards  he  discovered  by  chance  even  the  tree 
with  the  names  cut  in  the  bark.  The  amiable  Abbe 
de  Sk  Pierre  does  his  best  to  explain  the  whole  occur- 
rence as  a  natural  series  of  very  simple  accidents;  there 
can  be,  however,  no  doubt  of  the  exceptionable  char- 
acter of  the  leading-  features  of  the  event,  and  the  priest, 
from  whose  own  account  the  facts  are  derived,  must 
evidently  in  his  trance  have  been  endowed  with  powers 
of  clairvoyance. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  century  a  book  appeared  in 
Germany  which  led  to  a  very  general  and  rather  violent 
discussion  of  the  whole  subject.  It  was  written  by  a 
Dr.  Woetzel,  whose  mind  had,  no  doubt,  been  long 
engaged  in  trying  to  solve  mysteries  like  that  of  the 
future  life,  since  he  had  early  come  in  contact  with 
strange  phenomena.  The  father  of  a  dear  friend  of  his 
having  fainted  in  consequence  of  receiving  a  serious 
wound,  was  very  indignant  at  being  roused  from  the 


GHOSTS.  241 

state  of  perfect  bliss  which  he  had  enjoyed  during  the 
time.  He  affirmed  that  in  the  short  interval  he  had 
visited  his  brother  in  Berlin,  whom  he  found  sitting  in 
a  bower  under  a  large  linden-tree,  surrounded  by  his 
family  and  a  few  friends,  and  engaged  in  drinking 
coffee.  Upon  entering  the  garden,  his  brother  had 
risen,  advanced  towards  him  and  asked  him  what  had 
brought  him  so  unexpectedly  to  Berlin.  A  few  days 
after  the  fainting-fit  a  letter  arrived  from  that  city, 
inquiring  what  could  have  happened  on  that  day  and 
at  that  hour,  and  reciting  all  that  the  old  gentleman 
had  reported  as  having  been  done  during  his  uncon- 
sciousness !  Xor  had  the  latter  been  seen  by  his 
brother  only,  but  quite  as  distinctly  by  the  whole  com- 
pany present ;  his  image  had,  however,  vanished  again 
as  soon  as  his  brother  had  attempted  to  touch  him 
(Woetzel,  p.  215).  From  his  work  we  learn  that  he 
had  begged  his  wife  on  her  death-bed  to  appear  to  him 
after  death,  and  she  had  promised  to  do  so  ;  but  soon 
after  her  mind  became  so  uneasy  about  the  probable 
effects  of  her  pledge,  that  her  husband  released  her,  and 
abandoned  all  thoughts  on  the  subject.  Several  weeks 
later  he  was  sitting  in  a  locked  room,  when  suddenly  a 
heavy  draught  of  air  rushed  through  it,  the  light  was 
nearly  blown  out,  a  small  window  in  an  alcove  sounded 
as  if  it  were  opened,  and  in  an  instant  the  faint  lumin- 
ous form  of  his  wife  was  standing  before  the  amazed 
widower.  She  said  in  a  soft,  scarcely  audible  voice : 

"  Charles,  I  am  immortal ;    we   shall  see   each   other 

11 


242  MODERN   MAGIC. 

again."  "Woetzel  jumped  up  and  tried  to  seize  the 
form,  but  it  vanished  like  thin  mist,  and  he  felt  a 
strong  electric  shock.  He  saw  the  same  vision  and 
heard  the  same  words  repeatedly ;  his  wife  appeared  as 
he  had  last  seen  her  lying  in  her  coffin ;  the  second 
time  a  dog,  who  had  been  often  petted  by  her,  wagged 
his  tail  and  walked  caressingly  around  the  apparition. 
The  book,  which  appeared  in  1804,  and  gave  a  full 
account  of  all  the  phenomena,  met  with  much  opposi- 
tion and  contempt;  a  number  of  works  were  written 
against  it,  Wieland  ridiculed  it  in  his  "Euthanasia/' 
and  others  denounced  it  as  a  mere  repetition  of  former 
statements.  The  author  was,  however,  not  abashed  by 
the  storm  he  had  raised;  he  offered  to  swear  to  the 
truth  of  all  he  had  stated  before  the  Great  Council  of 
the  University  of  Leipzig,  and  published  a  second  work 
in  which  he  developed  his  theory  of  ghosts  with  great 
ability.  According  to  his  view,  the  spirits  of  the  de- 
parted are  for  some  time  after  death  surrounded  by  a 
luminous  essence,  which  may,  under  peculiarly  favor- 
able circumstances,  become  visible  to  human  eyes,  but 
which,  according  to  the  weakness  of  our  mind,  is  gen- 
erally transformed  by  the  imagination  only  into  the 
more  familiar  form  of  deceased  friends.  He  insists, 
besides,  upon  it  that  all  he  saw  and  heard  was  an  im- 
pression made  upon  the  outer  senses  only,  and  that 
nothing  in  the  whole  occurrence  originated  in  his 
inner  consciousness.  As  there  was  nothing  to  be 
gained  for  him  by  his  persistent  assertions,  it  seems 


GHOSTS.  243 

but  fair  to  give  them  all  the  weight  they  may  deserve, 
till  the  whole  subject  is  more  fully  understood. 

Another  remarkable  case  is  that  of  a  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
James,  at  whose  house  the  Kev.  Mr.  Mills,  a  Methodist 
preacher,  was  usually  entertained  when  his  duties 
brought  him  to  their  place  of  residence.  One  year  he 
found  they  had  both  died  since  his  last  visit,  but  he 
staid  with  the  orphaned  children,  and  retired  to  the 
same  room  which  he  had  always  occupied.  The  ad- 
joining room  was  the  former  chamber  of  the  aged 
couple,  and  here  he  began  soon  to  hear  a  whispering 
and  moving  about,  just  as  he  used  to  hear  it  when  they 
were  still  alive.  This  recalled  to  him  the  reports  he 
had  heard  in  the  town,  that  the  departed  had  been  fre- 
quently seen  by  their  numerous  friends  and  kinsmen. 
The  next  day  he  called  upon  a  plain  but  very  pious 
woman,  who  urged  him  to  share  her  simple  meal  with 
her ;  he  consented,  but  what  was  his  amazement  when 
she  said  to  him  at  the  close  of  the  meal:  "Now,  Mr. 
Mills,  I  have  a  favor  to  ask  of  you.  I  want  you  to 
preach  my  funeral  sermon  next  Sunday.  I  am  going 
to  die  next  Friday  at  three  o'clock."  When  the  aston- 
ished minister  asked  her  to  explain  the  strange  request, 
she  replied  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  had  come  to  her 
to  tell  her  that  they  were  ineffably  happy,  but  still 
bound  by  certain  ties  to  the  world  below.  They  had 
added  that  they  had  not  died,  as  people  believed,  with- 
out disposing  of  their  property,  but  that,  in  order  to 
avoid  dissensions  among  their  children,  they  had  been 


244  MODERN   MAGIC. 

allowed  to  return  and  to  make  the  place  known  where 
the  will  was  concealed.  They  had  tried  to  confer  with 
Mr.  Mills,  but  his  timidity  had  prevented  it ;  now  they 
had  come  to  her,  as  the  minister  was  going  to  dine  that 
day  at  her  house.  Finally  they  had  informed  her  of 
her  approaching  death  on  the  day  she  had  mentioned. 
The  Methodist  minister  looked,  aided  by  the  heirs  and 
a  legal  man,  for  the  will  and  found  it  at  the  place  indi- 
cated. Nanny,  the  poor  woman,  died  on  Friday,  and 
her  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  him  on  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  (Rechenberg,  p.  182). 

A  certain  Dr.  T.  Van  Velseu  published  in  1870,  in 
Dutch,  a  work,  called  Christus  Redivivus,  in  which  he 
relates  a  number  of  very  remarkable  appearances  of 
deceased  persons,  and  among  these  the  following:  "A 
friend  of  the  author's,  a  man  of  sound,  practical  mind, 
and  a  declared  enemy  of  all  superstition,  lost  his  mother 
whom  he  had  most  assiduously  nursed 'for  six  weeks 
and  who  died  in  full  faith  in  her  Eedeemer.  A  few 
days  later  his  nephew  was  to  be  married  in  a  distant 
province,  but  although  no  near  kinsman  of  his,  except 
his  mother,  could  be  present,  he,  the  uncle,  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  so  soon  after  his  grievous  loss,  to 
attend  a  wedding.  This  decision  irritated  and  wounded 
his  sister  deeply  and  led  to  warm  discussions,  in  which 
other  relatives  also  took  her  side,  and  which  threatened 
to  cause  a  serious  breach  in  the  family.  The  mourner 
was  deeply  afflicted  by  the  scene  and  at  night,  having 
laid  the  matter  before  God,  he  fell  asleep  with  the 


GHOSTS.  245 

thought  on  his  mind :  '  What  would  your  mother  think 
of  it  ? '  Suddenly,  while  yet  wide  awake,  he  heard  a 
voice  saying :  '  Go ! '  Although  he  recognized  the  voice 
instantly,  he  thought  it  might  be  his  sister's  and  drew 
the  bed-curtain  aside,  to  see  who  was  there.  To  his 
amazement  he  saw  his  mothers  form  standing  by  his 
bedside;  terrified  and  bewildered  he  dropped  the  cur- 
tain, turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and  tried  to  collect  his 
thoughts,  but  at  the  same  time  he  heard  the  same 
voice  say  once  more :  '  Go ! '  He  drew  the  curtain  again 
and  saw  his  mother  as  before,  looking  at  him  with  deep 
love  and  gentle  urgency.  This  excites  him  so  that  he 
can  control  himself  no  longer;  he  jumps  up  and  tries 
to  seize  the  form — it  draws  back  and  gradually  dissolves 
before  his  eye.  Now  only  he  recalls  how  often  he  has 
conversed  with  his  mother  about  the  future  life  and  the 
possibility  of  communication  after  death ;  he  becomes 
calm,  decides  to  attend  the  wedding  and  sleeps  soundly 
till  the  morning.  The  next  day  he  finds  his  heart 
relieved  of  a  sore  burden ;  he  joins  his  friends  at  the 
wedding  and  finds,  to  his  infinite  delight,  that  by  his 
presence  only  a  serious  difficulty  is  avoided  and  peace 
is  preserved  in  a  numerous  and  influential  family.  In 
this  case  the  effect  of  the  mind  on  the  imagination  is 
strikingly  illustrated,  and  although  the  vision  of  the 
mother  may  have  existed  purely  in  the  son's  mind, 
the  practical  result  was  precisely  the  same  as  if  a  spirit 
had  really  appeared  in  tangible  shape  so  as  to  be  seen 
by  the  outward  eye." 


246  MODERN   MAGIC. 

In  some  instances  phenomena,  like  those  described, 
are  apparently  the  result  of  a  disturbed  conscience,  and 
occur,  therefore,  in  frequent  repetition.  Already  Plu- 
tarch, in  his  "  Life  of  Cinion,"  tells  us  that  the  Spartan 
general,  Pausanias,  had  murdered  a  fair  maiden, 
Cleonice,  because  she  overthrew  a  torch  in  his  tent  and 
he  imagined  himself  to  be  attacked  by  assassins.  The 
ghost  of  the  poor  girl,  whom  he  had  dishonored  in  life 
and  so  foully  killed,  appeared  to  him  and  threatened 
him  with  such  fearful  disgrace,  that  he  was  terrified 
and  hastened  to  Heraclea,  where  necromancers  sum- 
moned the  spirits  of  the  departed  by  their  vile  arts. 
They  called  up  Cleonice,  at  the  great  commander's 
request,  and  she  replied  reluctantly,  that  the  curse 
would  not  leave  him  till  he  went  to  Sparta.  Pausauias 
did  so  and  found  his  death  there,  the  only  way,  says 
the  historian  of  the  same  name,  in  which  he  could  ever 
be  relieved  of  such  fearful  guilt.  Baxter,  also,  tells  us 
(p.  30)  of  a  Rev.  Mr.  Franklin,  whose  young  son  repeat- 
edly saw  a  lady  and  received  at  her  hands  quite  painful 
correction.  Thus,  when  he  was  bound  apprentice  to 
a  surgeon,  in  1661,  and  refused  to  return  home  upon 
being  ordered  to  do  so,  she  appeared  to  him,  and  when 
he  resisted  her  admonitions,  energetically  boxed  his 
ears.  The  poor  boy  was  in  bud  health  and  seemed  to 
suffer  so  much  that  at  Idst  the  surgeon  determined  to 
consult  his  father,  who  lived  on  the  island  of  Ely.  On 
the  morning  of  the  day  which  he  spent  travelling,  the 
boy  cried  out :  "  Oh,  mistress,  here's  the  lady  again ! " 


GHOSTS.  24*7 

and  at  the  same  time  a  noise  as  of  a  violent  blow  was 
heard.  The  child  hung  his  head  and  fell  back  dead. 
In  the  same  hour  the  surgeon  and  the  boy's  father,  sit- 
ting together  in  consultation,  saw  a  lady  enter  the 
room,  glance  at  them  angrily,  walk  up  and  down  a  few 
times  and  disappear  again. 

The  fancy  that  murdered  persons  reappear  in  some 
shape  after  death  for  the  purpose  of  wreaking  their 
vengeance  upon  their  enemies,  is  very  common  among 
all  nations,  and  has  often  been  vividly  embodied  in  le- 
gends and  ballads.  The  stories  of  Hamlet  and  of  Don 
Giovanni  are  based  upon  this  belief,  and  the  older 
chronicles  abound  with  similar  cases  belonging  to  an 
age  when  violence  was  more  frequent  and  justice  less 
prompt  than  in  our  day.  Thus  we  are  told  in  the  an- 
nals of  the  famous  castle  of  Weinsberg  in  Suabia — 
justly  renowned  all  over  the  world  for  the  rare  instance 
of  marital  attachment  exhibited  by  its  women — that  a 
steward  had  wantonly  murdered  a  peasant  there. 
Thereupon  disturbances  of  various  kinds  began  to 
make  the  castle  uninhabitable;  a  black  shape  was  seen 
walking  about  and  breathing  hot  and  hateful  odors 
upon  all  it  met,  while  the  steward  became  an  object  of 
special  persecution.  The  townspeople  at  first  were 
skeptic  and  laughed  at  his  reports,  but  soon  the  black 
visitor  was  seen  on  the  ramparts  of  the  town  also  and 
created  within  the  walls  the  same  sensation  as  up  at  the 
castle.  The  good  citizens  at  last  observed  a  solemn  fast- 
day  and  performed  a  pilgrimage  to  a  holy  shrine  at 


248  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Heilbrum.  But  all  was  iii  vain,  and  the  disturbances 
and  annoyances  increased  in  frequency  and  violence, 
till  at  last  the  unfortunate  steward  died  from  vexation 
and  sorrow,  when  the  whole  ceased  and  peace  was  re- 
stored to  town  aud  castle  alike  (Crusius,  "Suabian 
Chron."  ii.  p.  417). 

Another  case  of  this  kind  is  connected  with  a  curi- 
ous token  of  gratitude  exhibited  by  the  gratified  vic- 
tim. A  president  of  the  Parliament  of  Toulouse, 
returning  from  Paris  towards  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  was  compelled  by  an  accident  to  stop 
at  a  poor  country  tavern.  During  the  night  there  ap- 
peared to  him  an  old  man,  pale  aud  bleeding,  who 
declared  that  he  was  the  father  of  the  present  owner  of 
the  house,  that  he  had  been  murdered  by  his  own  son, 
cut  to  pieces,  and  buried  in  the  garden.  He  appealed  to 
the  president  to  investigate  the  matter  and  to  avenge 
his  murder.  The  judge  was  so  forcibly  impressed  by 
his  vision  that  he  ordered  search  to  be  made,  and  lo ! 
the  body  of  the  murdered  man  was  found,  and  the  son, 
thunderstruck  by  the  mysterious  revelation,  acknowl- 
edged his  guilt,  was  tried,  and  in  course  of  time  died 
on  the  scaffold.  But  the  murdered  man  was  not  satis- 
fied yet ;  he  showed  himself  once  more  to  the  president 
and  asked  how  he  could  prove  his  gratitude  ?  The 
latter  asked  to  be  informed  of  the  hour  of  his  death, 
that  he  might  fitly  prepare  himself,  and  was  promised 
that  he  should  know  it  a  week  in  advance.  Many 
years  afterwards  a  fierce  knocking  was  heard  at  the 


GHOSTS.  249 

gate  of  the  president's  house  in  Toulouse ;  the  porter 
opened  but  saw  no  one;  the  knocking  was  repeated, 
but  this  time  also  the  servants  who  had  rushed  to  the 
spot  found  nobody  there ;  when  it  was  heard  a  third 
time  they  were  thoroughly  frightened  and  hastened  to 
inform  their  master.  The  latter  went  to  the  door  and 
there  saw  the  well-remembered  form  of  his  nightly 
visitor,  who  told  him  that  he  would  die  in  eight  days. 
He  told  his  friends  and  his  family  what  had  happened, 
but  only  met  with  laughter,  as  he  was  in  perfect  health 
and  nothing  seemed  more  improbable  than  his  sudden 
death.  But  as  he  sat,  on  the  eighth  day,  at  table  with 
his  family,  a  book  was  mentioned  which  he  wished  to 
see,  and  he  got  up  to  look  for  it  in  his  library.  In- 
stantly a  shot  is  heard ;  the  guests  rush  out  and  find 
him  lying  on  the  floor  and  weltering  in  his  blood. 
Upon  inquiry  it  appeared  that  a  man,  desperately  in 
love  with  the  chamber-maid  and  jealous  of  a  rival,  had 
mistaken  the  president  for  the  latter  and  murdered  him 
with  a  pistol  (De  Segur,  GaUrie  morale  et  politique, 
p.  221). 

Among  the  numerous  accounts  of  visions  which  seem 
to  have  been  caused  by  an  instinctive  and  perfectly  un- 
conscious perception  of  human  remains,  the  story  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Lindner,  in  Konigsberg,  is  perhaps  the  best 
authenticated,  and  from  the  character  of  the  man  to 
whom  the  revelation  was  made,  the  most  trustworthy. 
It  is  fully  reported  by  Professor  Ehrmann  of  Strasburg, 
in  Kics.  ArcMv.  x.  iii.,  p.  143.  The  minister,  a  mod- 


250  MODERN    MAGIC. 

est,  pious  man,  awoke  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  and 
saw,  by  the  bright  moonlight  which  was  shining  into 
the  room,  another  minister  in  gown  and  bands,  stand- 
ing before  his  open  bible,  apparently  searching  for  some 
quotation.  He  had  a  small  child  in  his  arms,  and  a  larger 
child  stood  by  his  side.  After  some  time  spent  in  speech- 
less astonishment,  Mr.  Lindner  exclaimed:  '-'All  good 
spirits  praise  God!"  whereupon  the  stranger  turned 
round,  went  up  to  him  and  offered  three  times  to  shake 
hands  with  him.  Mr.  Lindner,  however,  refused  to  do 
so, gazing  at  the  same  time  intently  at  his  features,  and 
after  a  while  he  found  himself  looking  at  the  air,  for  nil 
had  disappeared.  It  was  a  long  time  afterwards,  when 
sauntering  through  the  cloisters  of  his  church,  he  was 
suddenly  arrested  by  a  portrait  which  bore  all  the  features 
of  the  minister  he  had  seen  on  that  night.  It  was  one 
of  his  predecessors  in  office,  who  had  died  nearly  fifty 
years  ago  in  rather  bad  odor,  reports  having  been  cur- 
rent at  the  time,  as  very  old  men  still  living  testified, 
that  he  had  had  several  illegitimate  children,  of  whose 
fate  nothing  was  known.  But  there  was  a  still  further 
sequel  to  the  minister's  strange  adventure.  In  the  course 
of  the  next  year  his  study  was  enlarged,  and  for  that 
purpose  the  huge  German  stove  had  to  be  removed ;  to 
the  horror  of  the  workmen  and  of  Mr.  Lindner,  who  was 
promptly  called  to  the  spot,  the  remains  of  several  child- 
ren were  found  carefully  concealed  beneath  the  solid 
structure.  As  there  is  no  reason  to  suspect  self-delusion 
in  the  reverend  man,  and  the  vision  cannot  well  be 


GHOSTS.  251 

ascribed  to  any  outward  cause,  it  must  be  presumed  that 
his  sensitive  nature  was  painfully  affected  by  the  skele- 
tons in  his  immediate  neighborhood,  and  that  this  un- 
conscious feeling,  acting  through  his  imagination,  gave 
form  and  shape  to  the  impressions  made  upon  his 
nerves. 

In  another  case  the  principal  person  was  a  candidate 
of  divinity,  Billing,  well  known  as  being  of  a  highly 
sensitive  disposition  and  given  to  hallucinations;  the 
extreme  suffering  which  the  presence  of  human  re- 
mains caused  to  his  whole  system  had  been  previously 
already  observed.  The  great  German  fabulist,  Pfeffel, 
a  blind  man,  once  took  Billing's  arm  and  went  with 
him  into  the  garden  to  take  an  airing.  The  poet  no- 
ticed that  when  they  came  to  a  certain  place,  the  young 
man  hesitated  and  his  arm  trembled  as  if  it  had  re- 
ceived an  electric  shock.  When  he  was  asked  what 
was  the  matter,  he  replied,  "  Oh,  nothing !"  But  upon 
passing  over  the  spot  a  second  time,  the  same  tremor 
made  itself  felt.  Pressed  by  Pfeffel,  the  young  man  at 
last  acknowledged  that  he  experienced  at  that  spot  the 
sensation  which  the  presence  of  a  corpse  always  pro- 
duced in  him,  and  offered  to  go  there  with  the  poet  at 
night  in  order  to  prove  to  him  the  correctness  of  his 
feelings.  When  the  two  friends  went  to  the  garden 
after  dark,  Billing  perceived  at  once  a  faint  glimmer 
of  light  above  the  spot  He  stopped  at  a  distance  of 
about  ten  yards,  and  after  a  while  declared  that  he  saw 
a  female  figure  hovering  above  the  place,  about  five  feet 


252  MODERN    MAGIC. 

high,  with  the  right  arm  across  her  bosom  and  the  left 
hand  hanging  down  by  her  side.  When  the  poet  ad- 
vanced and  stood  on  the  fatal  spot,  the  young  man 
affirmed  that  the  image  was  on  his  right  or  his  left, 
before  or  behind  him,  and  when  Pfeffel  struck  around 
him  with  his  cane,  it  produced  the  effect  as  if  he  were 
cutting  through  a  flame  which  instantly  reunited. 
The  same  phenomena  were  witnessed  a  second  time  by 
a  number  of  Pfeffel's  relations.  Several  days  afterwards, 
while  the  young  man  was  absent,  the  poet  caused  the 
place  in  the  garden  to  be  dug  up,  and  at  a  depth  of 
several  feet,  beneath  a  layer  of  lime,  a  human  skeleton 
was  discovered.  It  was  removed,  the  hole  filled  up, 
and  all  smoothed  over  again.  .After  Billing's  return 
the  poet  took  him  once  more  into  the  garden,  and  this 
time  the  young  man  walked  over  the  fatal  spot  without 
experiencing  the  slightest  sensation  (Kieser,  Arcltiv., 
etc.,  p.  326). 

It  was  this  remarkable  experience  which  led  Baron 
Reichenbach  to  verify  it  by  leading  one  of  his  sensitive 
patients,  a  Miss  Reichel,  at  night  to  the  great  cemetery 
of  Vienna.  As  soon  as  she  reached  the  place  she  per- 
ceived everywhere  a  sea  of  flames,  brightest  over  the 
new  graves,  weaker  over  others,  and  quite  faint  here 
and  there.  In  a  few  cases  these  lights  reached  a  height 
of  nearly  four  feet,  but  generally  they  had  more  the  ap- 
pearance of  luminous  mists,  so  that  her  hand,  held 
over  the  place  where  she  saw  one,  seemed  to  be  envel- 
oped in  a  cloud  of  fire.  She  was  in  no  way  troubled 


GHOSTS.  253 

by  the  phenomena,  which  she  had  often  previously 
observed,  and  Baron  Reichenbach  thought  he  saw  in 
them  a  confirmation  of  his  theory  about  the  Od-light. 
There  can  be,  however,  little  doubt  that  the  luminous 
appearance,  perceptible  though  it  be  only  to  unusually 
sensitive  persons,  is  the  result  of  chemical  decomposi- 
tion, which  has  a  peculiar  influence  over  these  per- 
sons. 

Hence,  no  doubt,  the  numerous  accounts  of  will-o'- 
the-wisps  and  ghostly  lights  seen  in  graveyards;  the 
frightened  beholder  is  nearly  always  laughed  at  or 
heartily  abused,  and  more  than  one  poor  child  has 
fallen  a  victim  to  the  absurd  theory  of  "  curing  it  of 
foolish  fears."  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  light  does 
appear  flickering  above  churchyards,  and  that  there  is 
something  more  than  mere  idle  superstition  in  the 
"  corpse-candles  "  of  the  Welsh  and  in  the  "  elf-candles  " 
of  the  Scotch,  which  are  seen,  with  foreboding  weight, 
in  the  house  of  sickness,  betokening  near  dissolution. 
At  the  same  time,  it  is  well  known  that  living  .persons 
also  have,  under  certain  circumstances,  given  out  light, 
and  especially  from  their  head.  The  cases  of  Moses, 
whose  face  shone  with  unbearable  brightness,  and  of 
the  martyr  Stephen,  are  familiar  to  all,  and  the  halo 
with  which  artists  surround  the  heads  of  saints  bears 
eloquent  evidence  of  the  universal  and  deeply-rooted 
belief.  But  science  also  has  fully  established  the  fact 
that  light  appears  as  a  real  and  unmistakable  luminous 
efflux  from  the  human  body,  alike  in  health  and  in 


254  MODERX    MAGIC. 

mortal  sickness.  By  far  the  most  common  case  of  such 
emission  of  light  is  the  emission  of  sparks  from  the 
hair  when  combed.  Before  and  during  the  electrical 
"  dust-storms  "  in  India,  this  phenomenon  is  of  frequent 
occurrence  in  the  hair  of  both  sexes.  In  dry  weather, 
and  when  the  hair  also  is  dry,  and  especially  immediately 
before  thunderstorms,  the  same  sparks  are  seen  in  all 
countries.  Dr.  Phipson  mentions  the  case  of  a  relative 
of  his,  "  whose  hair  (exactly  one  yard  and  a  quarter  long), 
when  combed  somewhat  rapidly  with  a  black  gutta- 
percha  comb,  emits  sheets  of  light  upward  of  a  foot  in 
length,"  the  light  being  "  composed  of  hundreds  of  small 
electric  sparks,  the  snapping  noise  of  which  is  dis- 
tinctly heard." 

But  electric  light  is  sometimes  given  off  by  the  human 
body  itself,  not  merely  from  the  hair.  A  memorable  in- 
stance of  this  phenomenon  is  recorded  by  Dr.  Kane  in  the 
journal  of  his  last  voyage  to  the  Polar  regions.  He  and 
a  companion,  Petersen,  had  gone  to  sleep  in  a  hut  during 
intense  cold,  and  on  aAvaking  in  the  night,  found,  to  their 
horror,  that  their  lamp — their  only  hope — had  gone  out. 
Petersen  tried  in  vain  to  get  light  from  a  pocket-pistol, 
and  then  Kane  resolved  to  take  the  pistol  himself.  "It 
was  so  intensely  dark,"  he  says,  "  that  I  had  to  grope  for 
it,  and  in  so  doing,  I  touched  his  hand.  At  that  instant 
the  pistol — in  Petersen's  hand — became  distinctly  visi- 
ble. A  pale  bluish  light,  slightly  tremulous,  but  not 
broken,  covered  the  metallic  parts  of  it.  The  stock,  too, 
was  distinctly  visible  as  if  by  reflected  light,  and  to  the 


GHOSTS.  255 

amazement  of  both  of  us,  also  the  thumb  and  two  fin- 
gers with  which  Petersen  was  holding  it — the  creases, 
wrinkles  and  circuit  of  nails  being  clearly  defined  upon 
the  skin.  As  I  took  the  pistol  my  hand  became  illu- 
minated also."  This  luminous  and  doubtless  electric 
phenomenon  took  place  in  highly  exceptional  circum- 
stances., and  is  the  only  case  recorded  in  recent  times. 
But  a  far  more  remarkable  phenomenon  of  a  similar 
kind  is  mentioned  by  Bartholin,  who  gives  an  account 
of  a  lady  in  Italy,  whom  he  rightly  styles  mulier  splen- 
dens,  whose  body  became  phosphorescent — or  rather 
shone  with  electric  radiations — when  slightly  rubbed 
with  a  piece  of  dry  linen.  In  this  case  the  luminosity 
appears  to  have  been  normal,  certainly  very  frequent 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  and  the  fact  is  well  attest- 
ed. Mr.  B.  H.  Patterson  mentions  in  the  journal  Belgra- 
via  (Oct.,  1872),  that  he  saw  the  flannel  with  which  he 
had  rubbed  his  body,  emit  blue  sparks,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  heard  a  "  crackling  "  sound.  These  facts  prove 
that  the  human  body  even  in  ordinary  life,  is  capable  of 
giving  out  luminous  undulations,  while  science  teaches 
iis  that  they  appear  quite  frequently  in  disease.  Here 
again,  Dr.  Phipson  mentions  several  cases  as  the  result 
of  his  reading.  One  of  these  is  that  of  a  woman  in  Mi- 
lan, during  whose  illness  a  so-called  phosphoric  light 
glimmered  about  her  bed.  Another  remarkable  case  is 
recorded  by  Dr.  Marsh,  in  a  volume  on  the  "  Evolution 
of  Light  from  the  Human  Subject,"  and  reads  thus: 
"  About  an  hour  and  a  half  before  my  sister's  death, 


256  MODERN   MAGIC. 

we  were  struck  by  luminous  appearances  proceeding 
from  her  head  in  a  diagonal  direction.  She  was  at  the 
time  in  a  half-recumbent  position,  and  perfectly  tran- 
quil. The  light  was  pale  as  the  moon,  but  quite  evident 
to  mamma,  myself,  and  sisters,  who  were  watching  over 
her  at  the  time.  One  of  us  at  first  thought  it  was  light- 
ning, till  shortly  afterwards  we  pei-ceived  a  sort  of 
tremulous  glimmer  playing  around  the  head  of  the  bed, 
and  then,  recollecting  that  we  had  read  something  of 
a  similar  nature  having  been  observed  previous  to  dis- 
solution, we  had  candles  brought  into  the  room,  fearing 
that  our  dear  sister  would  perceive  the  luminosity,  and 
that  it  might  disturb  the  tranquillity  of  her  last  mo- 
ments." 

The  other  case  relates  to  an  Irish  peasant,  and  is  re- 
corded from  personal  observation  by  Dr.  Donovan,  in  the 
Dublin  Medical  Press,  in  1870,  as  follows  :  "  I  was  sent 
to  see  Harrington  in  December.  He  had  been  under  the 
care  of  my  predecessor,  and  had  been  entered  as  a  phthisi- 
cal patient.  He  was  under  my  care  for  about  five  years, 
and  I  had  discontinued  my  visits,  when  the  report  be- 
came general  that  mysterious  lights  were  seen  every 
night  in  his  cabin.  The  subject  attracted  a  great  deal  of 
attention.  I  determined  to  submit  the  matter  to  the 
ordeal  of  my  own  senses,  and  for  this  purpose  I  visited 
the  cabin  for  fourteen  nights.  Oil  three  nights  only  I 
witnessed  anything  unusual.  Once  I  perceived  a  lu- 
minous fog  resembling  the  aurora  borealis ;  and  twice  I 
saw  scintillations  like  the  sparkling  phosphorescence  ex- 


GHOSTS.  257 

hibited  by  sea-infusoria.  From  the  close  scrutiny  I 
made,  I  can  with  certainty  say,  that  no  imposition  was 
either  employed  or  attempted." 

The  only  explanation  ever  offered  by  competent 
authority  of  the  luminous  radiations  from  persons  in 
disease,  ascribes  them  to  an  efflux  or  escape  of  the  nerve- 
force,  which  is  known  to  be  kindred  in  its  nature  to 
electricity,  transmuting  itself  into  luminosity  as  it 
leaves  the  body.  The  Seeress  of  Prevorst  reported  that 
she  saw  the  nerves  as  shining  threads,  and  even  from 
the  eyes  of  some  persons  rays  of  light  seemed  to  her  to 
flash  continually.  Other  somnambulists  also,  as  well  as 
mesmerized  persons,  have  seen  the  hair  of  persons  shine 
with  a  multitude  of  sparks,  \vhile  the  breath  of  their 
mouth  appeared  as  a  faint  luminous  mist. 

The  same  luminosity  is,  finally,  perceived  at  times  in 
graveyards,  and  would,  no  doubt,  have  led  to  careful 
investigation  more  frequently,  if  observers  had  not  so 
often  been  suspected  of  superstitious  apprehensions. 
In  the  case  of  Baron  Keichenbach's  patients,  however, 
no  such  difficulty  was  to  be  feared ;  they  saw  invariably 
light,  bluish  flames  hovering  over  many  graves,  and 
what  made  the  phenomena  more  striking  still,  was  the 
fact  that  these  moving  lights  were  only  seen  on  recent 
graves,  as  if  naturally  dependent  upon  the  process  of 
decomposition.  If  we  connect  this  with  our  experience 
of  luminosity  seen  in  decaying  vegetables,  in  spoiled 
meat,  and  in  diseased  persons,  we  shall  be  prepared  to 
believe  that  even  so-called  ghost  stories,  in  which  mys- 


258  MODERN    MAGIC. 

terious  lights  play  a  prominent  part,  are  by  no  means 
necessarily  without  foundation. 

Cases  in.  which  deceased  persons  have  made  them- 
selves known  to  survivors,  or  have  produced,  by  some  as 
yet  unexplained  agency,  an  impression  upon  them 
through  other  senses  than  the  sight,  are  very  rare. 
Occasionally,  however,  the  hearing  is  thus  affected,  and 
sweet  music  is  heard,  in  token,  as  it  were,  of  the  con- 
tinued intercourse  between  the  dead  and  ihe  living. 
One  instance  may  serve  as  an  illustration. 

The  Countess  A.  had  all  her  life  been  remarkable  for 
the  strange  delight  she  took  in  clocks ;  not  a  room  in 
her  castle  but  had  its  large  or  small  clock,  and  all  these 
she  insisted  upon  winding  up  herself  at  the  proper  time. 
Her  favorite,  however,  was  a  very  curious  and  most 
costly  clock  in  her  sitting-room,  which  had  the  form  of 
a  Gothic  church,  and  displayed  in  the  steeple  a  small 
dial,  behind  which  the  works  were  concealed ;  at  the 
full  hour  a  hymn  was  played  by  a  kind  of  music-box 
attached  to  the  mechanism.  She  allowed  no  one  to 
touch  this  clock,  and  used  to  sit  before  it,  as  the  hand 
approached  the  hour,  waiting  for  the  hymn  to  be  heard. 
At  last  she  was  taken  ill  and  confined  for  seven  weeks, 
during  which  the  clock  could  not  be  wound  up.  and 
then  she  died.  For  special  reasons  the  interment  had 
to  take  place  on  the  evening  of  the  next  day,  and,  as 
the  castle  was  far  from  any  town,  the  preparations  took 
so  much  time  that  it  was  nearly  midnight  before  the 
body  could  be  moved  from  the  bedroom  to  the  drawing- 


GHOSTS.  259 

room,  where  the  usual  ceremonies  were  to  be  performed. 
The  transfer  was  accomplished  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  her  husband,  who  followed  the  coffin,  and  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  friends  and  depend- 
ents, while  the  minister  led  the  sad  cortege.  At  the 
moment  when  the  coffin  approached  the  favorite  clock, 
it  suddenly  began  to  strike ;  but  instead  of  twelve,  it 
gave  out  thirteen  strokes,  and  then  followed  the  melody 
of  a  well-known  hymn  : 

"  Let   us   with  boldness  now   proceed 
On  the  dark  path  to  a  new  life." 

The  minister,  who  happened  to  have  been  sitting  a  little 
while  before  by  the  count's  side,  just  beneath  the  clock, 
and  had  mournfully  noticed  its  silence  after  so  many 
years,  was  thunderstruck,  and  could  not  recover  his 
self-control  for  some  time.  The  count,  on  the  contrary, 
saw  in  the  accident  a  solemn  warning  from  on  high, 
and  henceforth  laid  aside  the  frivolity  which  he  had  so 
far  shown  in  his  life  as  well  as  in  his  principles 
("Evening  Post"  [Germ.],  1840.  No.  187). 

There  are  finally  certain  phenomena  belonging  to 
this  part  of  magic,  which  have  been  very  generally  at- 
tributed to  an  agency  in  which  natural  forces  and 
supernatural  beings  held  a  nearly  equal  share.  They 
suggest  the  interesting  but  difficult  question,  whether 
visions  and  ecstasy  can  extend  to  large  numbers  of  men 
at  once  ?  And  yet  without  some  such  supposition  the 
armies  in  the  clouds,  the  wild  huntsman  of  the  Ar- 
dennes, and  like  appearances  cannot  well  be  explained. 


260  MODERN   MAGIC. 

Here  also  no  little  weight  must  be  attached  to  ancient 
superstitions  which  have  become,  as  it  were,  a  part  of 
a  nation's  faith.  Thus  all  Northern  Germany  has  from 
the  earliest  days  been  familiar  with  the  idea  of  the 
great  Woden  ranging  through  its  dark  forests,  at  the 
head  of  the  Waltyries  and  the  heroes  fallen  in  battle, 
while  his  wolves  and  his  raven  followed  him  on  his 
nightly  course.  When  Christianity  changed  the  old 
gods  of  the  German  race  into  devils  and  demons, 
Woden  became  very  naturally  the  wild  huntsman,  who 
was  now  escorted  by  men  of  violence,  bloody  tyrants, 
and  criminals,  often  grievously  mutilated  or  altogether 
headless.  There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  these  vis- 
ions also  rested  upon  some  natural  substructure:  excep- 
tional atmospheric  disturbances,  hurricanes  coming 
from  afar  and  crashing  through  mighty  forests,  or  even 
the  modest  tramp  of  a  band  of  poachers  heard  afar  off, 
under  favorable  circumstances  by  timid  ears.  The  very 
fact  that  the  favorite  time  for  such  phenomena  is  the 
winter  solstice  favors  this  supposition.  They  are,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  limited  to  seasons  and  days,  for  as 
late  as  1842  a  number  of  wheat-cutters  left  in  a  panic 
the  field  in  which  they  were  engaged,  because  they  be- 
lieved they  heard  Frau  Holle  with  her  hellish  company, 
and  saw  Faithful  Eckhard,  as  he  walked  steadily  before 
the  procession,  warning  all  he  met  to  stand  aside  and 
escape  from  the  fatal  sight.  An  occurrence  of  the  kind, 
which  took  place  in  1857,  was  fortunately  fully  ex- 
plained by  careful  observers  :  the  cause  was  an  immense 


GHOSTS.  261 

flock  of  wild  geese,  whose  strange  cries  resembled  in  a 
surprising  manner  the  barking  of  a  pack  of  hounds 
during  a  hunt.  Another  occurrence  during  the  night 
of  January  30,  1849,  threw  the  whole  neighborhood  of 
Basle  in  Switzerland  into  painful  consternation.  The  air 
was  suddenly  filled  with  a  multitude  of  whining  voices, 
whose  agony  pierced  the  hearts  of  all  who  heard  them ; 
men  and  beasts  seemed  to  be  suffering  unutterable  an- 
guish, and  to  be  driven  with  furious  speed  from  the 
mountain-side  into  a  valley  near  Magden;  here  all 
ended  in  an  instant  amid  rolling  thunder  and  fearful 
flashes  of  lightning.  A  fierce  storm  arising  in  distant 
clefts  and  crevices,  and  carrying  possibly  fragments  of 
rock,  ice,  and  morain  along  with  it,  seems  here  to  have 
been  the  determining  cause. 

Another  class  of  phenomena  of  this  kind  relates  to 
the  great  battles  that  have  at  tunes  decided  the  fate  of 
the  world.  Thus  Pausanias  already  tells  us  ("  Attica," 
32),  and  so  do  other  historians  of  Greece,  how  the  Plain 
of  Marathon  resounded  for  nearly  four  centuries  every 
year  with  the  clash  of  arms  and  the  cries  of  soldiers. 
It  was  evidently  the  deep  and  lasting  impression  made 
upon  a  highly  sensitive  nation,  which  here  was  be- 
queathed from  generation  to  generation,  and  on  the 
day  of  the  battle,  when  all  was  excitement,  resulted  in 
the  perception  of  sounds  which  had  no  real  existence. 
Events  of  such  colossal  proportions,  which  determine 
in  a  few  hours  the  fate  of  great  nations,  leave  naturally 
a  powerful  impress  upon  contemporaries  not  only,  but 


262  MODEBX   MAGIC. 

also  upon  the  children  of  that  race.  Such  was,  among 
others,  the  fearful  battle  on  the  Catalaunian  Fields,  in 
which  the  Visi-Goths  and  Actius  conquered  Attila,  and 
one  hundred  and  sixty-two  thousand  warriors  were  slain. 
It  was  at  the  time  reported  that  the  intense  bitterness 
and  exasperation  of  the  armies  continued  even  after  the 
battle,  and  that  for  three  days  the  spirits  of  the  fallen 
were  contending  with  each  other  with  unabated  fury. 
The  report  grew  into  a  legend,  till  a  firm  belief  was 
established  that  the  battle  was  fought  year  after  year 
on  the  memorable  day,  and  that  any  visitor  might 
behold  the  passionate  spirits  as  they  rose  from  their 
graves,  armed  with  their  ancient  weapons  and  filled 
with  undiminished  fury.  One  by  one  the  soldiers  of 
the  two  armies,  it  was  said,  leave  their  lowly  graves, 
rise  high  into  the  air,  and  engage  in  deadly  but  silent 
strife,  till  they  vanish  in  the  clouds.  It  is  well  known 
how  successfully  the  great  German  painter,  Kaulbach, 
has  reproduced  the  vision  in  his  magnificent  fresco  of 
the  "Hunnenschlacht."  In  other  countries  these 
ghostly  visions  assume  different  forms.  Thus  the 
neighborhood  of  Kerope,  in  Livonia,  is  in  like  manner 
renowned  for  a  long  series  of  fearful  butcheries  during 
the  wars  between  the  German  knights  and  the  Musco- 
vites. There  also,  night  after  night,  the  shadowy  battle 
is  fought  over  again  ;  but  the  clashing  of  arms  and  the 
hoarse  war-cries  are  distinctly  heard,  and  the  pious 
traveler  hastens  aAvay  from  the  blood-soaked  plains, 
uttering  his  prayers  for  the  souls  of  the  slain.  In  the 


GHOSTS.  263 

Highlands  of  Scotland  also,  and  on  the  adjoining 
islands,  most  weird  and  gruesome  sights  have  been 
watched  by  young  and  old  in  every  generation.  The 
dark,  dismal  atmosphere  of  those  regions,  the  dense 
fogs  and  impenetrable  mists,  now  rising  from  the  sea, 
and  now  descending  from  the  mountains,  and  the  fierce, 
inclement  climate,  have  all  combined  for  ages  to  pre- 
dispose the  mind  for  the  perception  of  such  strange  and 
mysterious  phenomena.  Nearly  every  clan  and  every 
family  has  its  own  particular  ghost,  and  besides  these 
the  whole  nation  claims  a  number  of  common  vis- 
ions and  prophetic  spirits,  whose  harps  and  wild 
songs  are  heard  faintly  and  fearfully  sounding  on 
high.  A  friend  of  Mr.  Martin,  the  author  of  a,  work  on 
"  Second  Sight,"  used  to  recite  several  stanzas  belong- 
ing to  such  a  prophetic  song,  which  he  had  heard  him- 
self on  a  sad  November  day,  as  it  came  to  him  through 
the  drooping  clouds  and  sweeping  mists  from  the  sum- 
mit of  a  lonely  mountain.  At  funerals  also,  wonderful 
voices  were  heard  high  in  the  air,  as  they  accompanied 
the  chanting  of  the  people  below,  with  a  music  not 
born  upon  earth,  and  filling  the  heart  with  strange  but 
sweet  sadness.  Nearly  the  same  visions  are  seen  and 
the  same  songs  are  heard  in  Sweden  and  Norway, 
proving  conclusively  that  like  climatic  influences  pro- 
duce also  a  similar  magic  life,  in  individuals  not  only, 
but  in  whole  nations.  For  even  if  we  are  disposed  to 
look  upon  these  phenomena  as  merely  strange  appear- 
ances of  clouds  and  mists,  accompanied  by  the  howling 


264  MODERN    MAGIC. 

and  whistling  of  the  wind  and  the  tumbling  down  of 
rocks  and  gravel,  there  remains  the  uniformity  with 
which  thousands  of  every  generation  interpret  these 
sights  and  sounds  into  weird  visions  and  solemn  chant- 
ings. 

It  is,  however,  not  quite  so  evident  why  the  peculiar 
class  of  visions  which  is  often  erroneously  called  sec- 
ond sight — the  beholding  of  a  "double" — should  be 
almost  entirely  confined  to  these  same  northern  regions. 
It  is,  of  course,  not  unknown  to  other  lands  also,  and 
even  Holy  Writ  seems  to  justify  the  presumption  that 
the  idea  of  a  "  double  "  was  familiar  to  the  people  of 
Palestine.  For  the  poor  damsel  Ehoda,  who  "  for  glad- 
ness" did  not  open  the  door  at  which  Peter  knocked, 
after  he  had  been  miraculously  liberated,  but  ran  to  an- 
nounce his  presence  to  the  friends  who  were  assembled 
at  the  house  of  Mark's  brother,  was  first  called  mad, 
and  then  told :  "  It  is  his  angel  "  (Acts  xii.  13).  They 
evidently  meant,  not  that  it  was  the  spirit  of  their  de- 
ceased friend,  since  they  would  have  been  made  aware 
of  his  death,  but  a  phantom  representing  his  living 
body.  But  the  number  of  authentic  cases  of  persons 
who  have  seen  their  own  form,  is  vastly  greater  at  the 
North  than  anywhere  else.  The  Celtic  superstition  of 
the  "  fetch,"  as  the  appearance  of  a  person's  "  double  "  is 
there  called,  is  too  well  known  to  require  explanation. 
But  the  vision  itself  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  in 
the  study  of  magic,  since  it  exhibits  most  strikingly  the 
great  power  which  the  human  soul  may,  under  peculiar 


GHOSTS.  265 

circumstances,  gain  and  exercise  over  its  own  self,  lead- 
ing to  complete  self-delusion. 

A  case  in  which  this  strange  abdication  of  all  self- 
control  led  to  most  desirable  consequences,  is  mentioned 
by  Dr.  Mayo.  A  young  man  recently  from  Oxford  once 
saw  a  friend  of  his  enter  the  room  in  which  he  was 
dining  with  some  companions.  The  new  comer,  just 
returning  from  hunting,  seemed  to  them  to  look  unu- 
sually pale  and  was  evidently  in  a  state  of  great  excite- 
ment After  much  urging  he  at  last  confessed  that  he 
had  been  seriously  disturbed  in  mind  by  a  man  who  had 
kept  him  close  company  all  the  way  home.  This 
stranger,  on  horseback  like  himself,  had  been  his  exact 
image,  down  to  a  new  bridle,  his  own  invention,  which 
he  had  tried  that  day  for  the  first  time.  He  fancied 
that  this  "  double  "  was  his  own  ghost  and  an  omen  of 
his  impending  death.  His  friends  advised  him  to  con- 
fer with  the  head  of  his  college ;  this  was  done,  and  the 
latter  gave  him  much  good  advice,  adding  the  hope  that 
the  warning  would  not  be  allowed  to  pass  unimproved. 
It  is  certain  that  the  apparition  made  so  strong  an  im- 
pression upon  the  young  man  as  to  lead  to  his  entire 
reformation,  at  least  for  a  time. 

It  is  claimed  by  many  writers  that  there  are  persons 
who  continually  have  visions,  because  they  live  in  con- 
stant communication  with  spirits,  although  in  all  cases 
they  have  to  pay  a  fearful  penalty  for  this  sad  privilege. 
They  are  invariably  diseased  people,  mostly  women, 
who  fall  into  trances,  have  cataleptic  attacks,  or  suffer  of 

12 


26G  MODERN    MAGIC. 

even  more  painful  maladies,  and  during  the  time  of  their 
affliction  behold  and  converse  with  the  inmates  of 
another  world.  The  most  renowned  of  these  seers  was  a 
Mrs.  Hauffe,  who  has  become  well  known  to  the  reading 
world  through  Dr.  J.  Kerner's  famous  work,  "  The 
Seeress  of  Prevorst."  A  peculiar  feature  in  her  case  was 
the  fact  that  the  visions  she  had  were  invariably  an- 
nounced to  bystanders  by  peculiar  sounds,  heard  by  all 
who  were  present.  The  forms  assumed  by  her  mys- 
terious visitors  varied  almost  infinitely ;  now  it  was  a 
man  in  a  brown  gown,  and  now  a  Avoman  in  white. 
Often,  when  the  spirits  appeared  in  the  open  air,  and  she 
tried  to  escape  from  them  by  running,  she  was  bodily 
lifted  up  and  hurried  along  so  fast  that  her  companions 
could  not  keep  pace  with  her.  It  was  only  later  in  life 
that  she  fell  as  a  patient  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Kerner, 
who  was  quite  distinguished  as  a  poet,  and  had  a  great 
renown  as  a  physician  for  insane  people  of  a  special 
class.  His  house  at  "Weinsberg  in  "Wiirtemberg,  was  filled 
to  overflowing  with  persons  of  all  classes  of  society, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  and  all  had  visions.  Nor 
was  the  doctor  himself  excluded ;  he  also  was  a  seer, 
and  has  given  in  the  above-mentioned  book  a  full  and 
most  interesting  account  of  the  diseases  in  connection 
with  which  magic  phenomena  are  most  frequently  ob- 
served. By  the  aid  of  careful  observation  of  actual 
facts,  and  using  such  revelations  vouchsafed  to  him  and 
others  as  he  believed  fully  trustworthy,  he  formed  a 
regular  theory  of  visions.  First  of  all  he  admits  that 


GHOSTS.  267 

the  privilege  of  communing  with  spirits  is  a  grievous 
affliction,  and  that  all  of  his  more  thoughtful  patients 
continually  prayed  to  be  delivered  of  the  burden.  It  is 
evident  from  all  he  states  that  not'  only  the  body,  but 
the  mind  also  suffers — and  in  many  cases  suffers  unto 
destruction — under  the  effects  of  such  exceptional 
powers ;  that  in  fact  the  lines  of  separation  between  this 
life  and  another  life  can  never  be  crossed  with  impuni- 
ty. His  most  interesting  patient,  Mrs.  Hauffe,  presents 
the  usual  mixture  of  mere  fanciful  imagery  with  occa- 
sional flashes  of  truth;  her  genuine  revelations  were 
marvelous,  and  can  only  be  explained  upon  the  ground 
of  real  magic ;  but  with  them  are  mixed  up  the  most 
absurd  theories  and  the  most  startling  contradictions. 
She  insisted,  however,  upon  the  fact  that  only  those 
spirits  could  commune  with  mortal  man  who  were 
detained  in  the  middle  realm — between  heaven  and  hell 
— the  spirits  of  men  who  were  in  this  life  unable, 
though  not  unwilling,  to  believe  that  "  God  could  for- 
give their  sins  for  the  sake  of  Christ's  death."  She  was 
often  tried  by  Dr.  Kerner  and  others;  she  was  told  that 
certain  still  living  persons  had  died,  and  asked  to  sum- 
mon their  spirits,  but  she  was  never  misled.  There  can- 
be  no  doubt  that  the  poor  woman  was  sincere  in  her 
statements ;  but  she  was  apparently  unable  to  distin- 
guish between  real  visions  in  a  trance  and  the  mere  off- 
spring of  her  imagination.  That  her  peculiarities  were 
closely  connected  with  her  bodily  condition  is,  more- 
over, proved  by  the  fact  that  her  whole  family  suffered 


268  MODERN   MAGIC. 

ill  similar  manner  and  enjoyed  similar  powers ;  a 
brother  and  a  sister,  as  well  as  her  young  son,  all  had 
visions  and  heard  mysterious  noises.  The  latter  were, 
in  fact,  perceptible  to  all  the  inmates  of  the  strange 
house;  even  the  great  skeptic,  Dr.  Strausz,  who  once 
visited  it,  heard  "long,  fearful  groanings"  close  to  his 
amiable  hostess,  who  had  fallen  asleep  on  her  sofa.  Nor 
were  the  ghosts  content  with  disturbing  the  patients  and 
their  excellent  physician  ;  they  made  themselves  known 
to  their  friends  and  neighbors,  also,  and  even  the  good 
minister  in  the  little  town  had  much  to  suffer  from 
nightly  knockings  and  strange  utterances. 

Dr.  Kerner  himself  heard  many  spirits,  but  saw  only 
one,  and  that  only  as  "a  grayish  pillar; "  on  the  other 
hand  he  witnessed  countless  mysterious  phenomena 
which  occurred  in  his  patients'  bedrooms.  Now  he  be- 
held Mrs.  Hauffe's  boots  pulled  off  by  invisible  hands, 
while  she  herself  was  lying  almost  inanimate,  in  a 
trance,  on  her  bed,  and  now  he  heard  her  reveal  secrets 
which,  upon  writing  to  utterly  unknown  persons  at  a 
great  distance,  proved  to  be  correctly  stated.  What 
makes  a  thorough  investigation  of  all  these  phenomena 
peculiarly  difficult,  is  the  fact  that  Dr.  Kerner's  house 
became  an  asylum  for  somnambulists  as  well  as  for  real 
patients,  and  that  by  this  mixture  the  scientific  value 
of  his  observations,  as  regards  their  psychological 
interest,  is  seriously  impaired.  He  himself  was  a  sin- 
cere believer  in  magic  phenomena;  almost  all  of  his 
friends  and  neighbors,  from  the  humblest  peasant  to 


GHOSTS.  209 

the  most  cultivated  men  of  science,  believed  in  him  and 
his  statements,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  aston- 
ishing revelations  were  made  and  extraordinary  powers 
became  manifest  in  his  house.  But  here,  also,  the  diffi- 
culty of  separating  the  few  grains  of  truth  from  the 
great  mass  of  willful,  as  well  as  of  unconscious  delusion, 
is  almost  overwhelming,  and  our  final  judgment  must 
be  held  in  suspense,  till  more  light  has  been  thrown  on 
the  subject.  Dr.  Kerner's  son,  who  succeeded  his 
father  at  his  death  in  1862,  still  keeps  up  the  remark- 
able establishment  at  Weinsberg;  but  exclusively  for 
the  cure  of  certain  diseases  by  magnetism. 


VI. 
DIYINATIOI*. 

"  There  shall  not  be  found  among  you  any  one  that  useth  div- 
ination."— DEUT.  xviii.  9. 

THE  usual  activity  of  our  mind  is  limited  to  the  per- 
ception of  the  world  around  us,  and  its  life,  as  far  as 
the  power  of  our  senses  reaches;  it  must,  therefore, 
necessarily  be  confined  within  the  limits  of  space  and 
time.  There  are,  however,  specially  favored  men  among 
us  who  profess  an  additional  power,  or  even  ordinary 
men  may  be  thus  endowed  under  peculiar  circum- 
stances, as  when  they  are  under  the  influence  of  nerv- 
ous affections,  trances,  or  even  merely  in  an  unusual 
state  of  excitement.  Then  they  are  no  longer  sub- 
ject to  the  usual  laws  of  distance  in  space,  or  remote- 
ness in  time ;  they  perceive  as  immediately  present 
what  lies  beyond  the  reach  of  others,  and  the  magic 
power  by  which  this  is  accomplished  is  called  Divina- 
tion. This  vision  is  never  quite  clear,  nor  always  com- 
plete or  correct,  for  even  such  exceptionable  powers  are 
in  all  cases  more  or  less  subject  to  the  imperfections  of 
our  nature ;  habitual  notions,  an  ill-executed  imagina- 
tion, and  often  a  disordered  state  of  the  system,  all  in- 
terfere with  its  perfect  success.  These  imperfections, 
moreover,  not  only  affect  the  value  of  such  magic  per- 
ceptions, but  obscure  the  genuine  features  by  a  num- 


DIVINATION.  271 

ber  of  false  statements  and  of  erroneous  impressions, 
which  quite  legitimately  excite  a  strong  prejudice 
against  the  whole  subject.  Hence,  especially,  the  rigor 
of  the  Church  against  divination  in  every  form ;  it  has 
ever  ascribed  the  errors  mixed  up  writh  the  true  parts 
of  such  revelations  to  the  direct  influence  of  the  Evil 
One.  The  difficulty,  however,  arises  that  such  magic 
powers  have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  question  of 
morality ;  the  saint  and  the  criminal  may  possess  them 
alike,  since  they  are  elements  of  our  common  nature, 
hidden  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  and  coming  into 
view  and  into  life  only  in  rare  exceptional  instances. 

Divination,  as  freed  from  the  ordinary  limits  of  our 
perceptions,  appears  either  as  clairvoyance,  when  things 
are  seen  which  are  beyond  the  range  of  natural  vision, 
or  as  prophecy,  when  the  boundary  lines  of  time  are 
overstepped.  The  Jatter  appears  again  in  its  weakest 
form  as  a  mere  anticipation  of  things  to  come,  or  rises 
to  perfection  in  the  actual  foretelling  of  future  events. 
It  is  sad  eneugh  to  learn  from  the  experience  of  all 
nations  that  the  occurrences  thus  foreseen  are  almost 
invariably  great  misfortunes,  yet  our  surprise  will  cease 
if  we  remember  that  the  tragic  in  life  exercises  by  far 
the  greatest  influence  on  our  mind,  and  excites  it  far 
beyond  all  other  events.  Xor  must  we  overlook  the 
marvelous  unanimity  with  which  such  magic  powers 
are  admitted  to  exist  in  Man  by  all  nations  on  earth. 
The  explanation,  also,  is  invariably  the  same,  namely, 
that  Man  possessed  originally  the  command  over  space 


272  MODERN    MAGIC. 

and  time  as  well  as  God  himself,  but  that  when  sin 
came  into  the  world  and  affected  his  earth-born  body, 
this  power  was  lost,  and  preserved  only  to  appear  in 
exceptional  and  in  variably  most  painful  cases.  So 
thought  the  ancients  even  long  before  revelation  had 
spoken.  They  believed  that  Man  had  had  a  previous 
god-like  existence  before  appearing  upon  earth,  where 
he  was  condemned  to  expiate  the  sins  of  his  former 
life,  while  his  immortal  and  divine  soul  was  chained  to 
a  perishing  earthy  body.  Plato,  Plutarch,  and  Pythag- 
oras, Cicero  (in  his  book  De  Divinatione),  and  even 
Porphyrius,  all  admit  without  hesitation  the  power  of 
divination,  and  speak  of  its  special  vigor  in  the  mo- 
ments preceding  death.  Melanchthon  ascribed  warn- 
ing dreams  to  the  prophetic  power  of  the  human  soul. 
Brierre  de  Boismont  also  is  forced  to  admit  that  not  all 
cases  of  clairvoyance  and  prophesying  are  the  results 
of  hallucination  by  diseased  persons ;  he  speaks,  on  the 
contrary,  and  in  spite  of  his  bitter  skepticism,  of 
instances  in  which  the  increased  powers  of  perception 
are  the  effect  of  "  supernatural  intuition." 

One  of  the  most  prolific  sources  of  error  in  Divina- 
tion has  ever  been  the  variety  of  means  employed  for 
the  purpose  of  causing  the  preparatory  state  of  trance. 
It  is  well  known  in  our  day  that  the  mind  may  be 
most  strangely  affected  by  innumerable  agencies  which 
are  apparently  purely  mechanical,  and  often  utterly 
absurd.  Such  are  an  intent  gazing  at  highly-polished 
surfaces  of  metal,  or  into  the  bright  inside  of  a  gold 


DIVINATION.  273 

cup,  at  the  shining  sides  of  a  crystal,  or  the  varying 
hues  of  a  glass  globe ;  now  vessels  filled  with  pure 
water,  and  now  ink  poured  into  the  hand  of  a  child, 
answer  the  same  purpose.  Fortune-telling  from  the 
lines  of  the  hand  or  the  chance  combinations  of  play- 
ing-cards are,  in  this  aspect,  on  a  par  with  the  prophe- 
cies of  astrologers  drawn  from  the  constellations  in  the 
heavens.  It  need  hardly  be  added  that  this  almost  in- 
finite variety  of  more  or  less  absurd  measures  has 
nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  awaking  of  magic  power, 
and  continues  in  use  only  from  the  prestige  which 
some  of  the  means,  like  the  cup  of  Joseph  and  the 
mirror  of  Varro,  derive  from  their  antiquity.  Their 
sole  purpose  is  uniformly  to  withdraw  the  seer's  atten- 
tion from  all  outward  objects,  and  to  make  him,  by 
steadily  gazing  at  one  and  the  same  object,  concentrate 
his  thoughts  and  feelings  exclusively  upon  his  own 
self.  Experience  has  taught  that  such  efforts,  long 
continued,  result  finally  in  utter  loss  of  feeling,  in 
unconsciousness,  and  frequently  even  in  catalepsy.  It 
is  generally  only  under  such  peculiarly  painful  circum- 
stances that  the  unusual  powers  of  our  beiiig  can  be- 
come visible  and  begin  to  operate.  While  these  results 
may  be  obtained,  as  recent  experiments  have  proved, 
even  by  mere  continued  squinting,  barbarous  nations 
employ  the  most  violent  means  for  the  same  purpose — 
the  whirling  of  dervishes,  the  drumming  and  dancing 
of  northern  shamans,  the  deafening  music  of  the 
Moors,  are  all  means  of  the  same  kind  to  excite  the 

12* 


274  MODERN   MAGIC. 

rude  and  fierce  nature  of  savages  to  a  state  of  excessive 
excitement.  In  all  cases,  however,  we  must  notice  the 
comparative  sterility  of  such  divination,  and  the  pen- 
alty which  has  to  be  paid  for  most  meagre  results  by 
injuries  inflicted  upon  the  body,  and  by  troubles  caused 
in  the  mind,  which,  if  they  do  not  become  fatal  to  life, 
are  invariably  so  to  happiness  and  peace.  That  the 
sad  privilege  may  have  to  be  paid  for  with  life  itself, 
we  learn  already  from  Plutarch's  account  of  a  priestess 
who  became  so  furious  while  prophesying,  that  not 
only  the  strangers  but  the  priests  themselves  fled  in 
dismay,  while  she  herself  expired  a  few  hours  later 
(II.  p.  438). 

The  state  in  which  all  forms  of  divination  are  most 
apt  to  show  themselves  is  by  theologians  called  ecstasis, 
when  it  is  caused  by  means  specially  employed  for  the 
purpose  and  appears  as  a  literally  "being  beside  one's 
self;  by  its  side  they  speak  of  raptits,  when  the  abnor- 
mal state  suddenly  begins  during  an  act  of  ordinary 
life,  such  as  walking,  working,  or  even  praying.  The 
distinction  is  of  no  value  as  to  the  nature  of  the  magic 
powers  themselves,  which  are  in  all  cases  the  same  ;  it 
refers  exclusively  to  the  outer  form. 

One  of  the  simplest  methods  is  the  Deasil-walking 
of  the  Scotch  Highlanders:  the  seer  walks  rapidly  three 
times,  with  the  sun,  around  the  person  whose  future  is 
to  be  foretold,  and  thus  produces  a  trance,  in  which  his 
ning-ic  powers  become  available.  Walter  Scott's  "  Chron- 
icles of  the  Canongate  "  gives  a  full  account  of  this  cere- 


DIVINATION.  275 

mony.  Robin  Gig's  auut  performs  the  ceremony,  and 
then  warns  him  in  great  terror,  that  she  has  seen  a 
bloody  dagger  in  his  hand,  stained  with  English  blood, 
and  beseeches  him  to  stay  at  home.  He  disregards 
the  omen,  kills  the  same  night  an  Englishman,  a  cattle- 
dealer,  and  pays  for  the  crime  with  his  life. 

In  the  East,  on  the  contrary,  the  usual  form  is  to 
employ  a  youug  boy,  taken  at  haphazard  from  the  street, 
and  to  force  him  to  gaze  intently  at  Indian  ink  poured 
into  the  hollow  of  the  hand,  at  molten  lead,  wax  poured 
into  cold  water,  the  paten  of  a  priest  or  a  shining 
sword,  with  which  several  men  have  been  killed.  Gen- 
eral readers  will  recall  the  famous  boy  of  Cairo,  who  saw 
thus,  in  the  dark,  glittering  surface  of  ink,  the  great 
Nelson — curiously  enough  as  in  a  mirror,  for  he  report- 
ed the  image  to  be  without  the  left  arm  and  to  wear  the 
left  sleeve  across  the  breast,  while  the  great  admiral  had 
lost  his  right  arm  and  wore  the  right  sleeve  suspended' 
Burke,  in  his  amusing  "  Anecdotes  of  the  Aristocracy," 
etc.  (I.  p.  124),  relates  how  the  "  magician  "  Magraubin 
in  Alexandria  appeared  with  a  ten-year-old  Coptic  boy 
before  the  officers  of  H.  M's.  ship  Vanguard.  After 
burning  much  incense  and  uttering  many  unintelligible 
formulas  he  rolled  a  paper  in  the  shape  of  a  cornuco- 
pia, filled  it  with  ink,  and  bade  the  boy  tell  them  what 
he  saw.  As  usual,  he  saw  first  a  broom  sweeping,  and 
was  thoroughly  frightened.  When  a  young  midship- 
man asked  him  to  inquire  what  would  be  his  fate,  he 
described  instantly  a  sailor  with  gold  on  the  shoulders, 


276  MODEEX    MAGIC. 

fighting  against  Indians  till  he  fell  dead;  then  came 
friends  and  buried  him  under  a  tree  on  a  hill.  The 
midshipman,  Croker,  returned  home,  abandoned  the 
sea,  and  became  a  landowner  in  one  of  the  midland 
counties  of  England,  where  he  often  laughed  at  the  ab- 
surd prediction.  Long  years  afterwards,  however,  when 
there  was  a  sudden  want  of  seamen,  he  was  recalled 
into  service  and  sent  on  a  long  cruise.  He  rose  to  be- 
come a  captain,  and  while  in  command  of  a  frigate  fell, 
upon  the  island  of  Tongataboo,  in  a  skirmish  with  the 
natives,  whereupon  he  was  interred  there  under  a  lofty 
palm-tree  which  stood  on  a  commanding  eminence. 
The  same  author  repeats  (I.  p.  357)  the  well-known 
story  of  Lady  Eleanor  Campbell,  which  is  in  substance 
as  follows : 

Poor  Lady  Primrose,  a  daughter  of  the  second  Earl 
of  Loudonn,  had  for  years  endured  the  saddest  lot  that 
can  befall  a  noble  woman  :  she  had  been  bound  by  mar- 
riage to  a  husband  whose  dissolute  habits  and  untama- 
ble passions  inspired  her  with  fear,  while  his  short  love 
for  her  had  long  since  turned  into  bitter  hatred.  At 
last  he  formed  the  resolution  to  rid  himself  forever  of 
his  wife,  whose  very  piety  and  gentleness  were  a  stand- 
ing reproof  to  his  villainy.  By  a  rare  piece  of  good 
luck  she  was  awake  when  he  came  from  his  deep  pota- 
tions, a  bare  sword  in  his  hand,  and  ready  to  kill  her ; 
she  saw  him  in  the  mirror  before  which  she  happened 
to  be  sitting,  and  escaped  by  jumping  from  a  window 
and  hastening  to  her  husband's  own  mother.  After  this 


DIVINATION.  277 

attempt  at  her  life  he  disappeared,  no  one  knew  whith- 
er, but  the  poor  lady,  forsaken  and  yet  not  a  widow, 
could  not  prevent  her  thoughts  from  dwelling,  by  day 
and  by  night,  year  after  year,  upon  the  image  of  her 
unfortunate  husband  and  his  probable  fate  in  foreign 
lands.  It  was,  therefore,  not  without  a  pardonable  in- 
terest that  she  heard,  one  winter,  people  talk  of  a  for- 
eigner who  had  suddenly  appeared  in  Canongate  and 
created  a  great  sensation  throughout  Edinburgh  by  his 
success  in  showing  to  inquiring  visitors  what  their  ab- 
sent friends  were  doing.  Her  intense  anxiety  about  her 
husband  and  her  natural  desire  to  ascertain  whether 
she  was  still  a  wife  or  already  a  widow,  combined  to 
tempt  her  to  call  on  the  magician  ;  she  went,  therefore, 
with  a  friend,  both  disguised  in  the  tartans  and  plaids 
of  their  maids.  Before  they  reached  the  obscure  alley 
to  which  they  had  been  directed,  they  lost  their  way,  and 
were  standing  helpless,  exposed  to  the  cold,  stormy 
weather,  when  suddenly  a  deep  voice  said  to  them: 
"  You  are  mistaken,  ladies,  this  is  not  your  way ! " 
"How  so?"  asked  Lady  Primrose,  addressing  a  tall, 
gentlemanly  looking  man,  with  a  stern  face  of  deep 
olive  color,  in  which  a  pair  of  black  eyes  shone  like 
stars,  and  dressed  in  an  elegant  but  foreign-looking 
costume.  The  answer  came  promptly:  "You  are  mis- 
taken in  your  way,  because  it  lies  yonder,  and  in  your 
disguise,  because  it  does  not  conceal  you  from  him  who 
can  lift  the  veil  of  the  Future!"  Then  followed  a 
short  conversation  in  which  the  stranger  made  himself 


278  MODERN    MAGIC. 

known  as  the  magician  whom  they  were  about  to  visit, 
and,  by  some  words  whispered  into  the  lady's  ear,  as  a 
man  who  not  only  recognized  her  as  Lady  Primrose, 
but  who  also  was  perfectly  well  acquainted  with  all  the 
intimate  details  of  her  history.  Amazed  and  not  a  lit- 
tle frightened,  the  two  ladies  accepted  his  courteous 
invitation  to  follow  him,  entered  the  house,  and  were 
shown  into  a  simply  furnished  room,  where  the  stranger 
begged  them  to  wait  for  him,  till  all  was  ready  for  the 
ceremony  by  which  alone  he  could  satisfy  their  curios- 
ity. After  a  short  pause  he  reappeared  in  the  tradi- 
tional costume  of  a  magician,  a  long  tunic  of  black 
velvet  which  left  his  breast,  arms,  and  hands  free,  and 
requested  Lady  Primrose  to  follow  him  into  the  adjoin- 
ing room.  After  some  little  hesitation  she  left  her  com- 
panion and  entered  the  room,  which  was  perfectly  plain, 
offering  nothing  to  attract  the  eye  save  the  dark  cur- 
tains before  the  windows,  an  old-fashioned  arm-chair, 
and  a  kind  of  altar  of  black  marble,  over  which  a  large 
and  beautiful  mirror  was  suspended.  Before  the  latter 
stood  a  small  oven,  in  which  some  unknown  substance 
burnt  with  a  blue  light,  which  alone  feebly  lighted  up 
the  room.  The  visitor  was  requested  to  sit  down,  to  in- 
voke help  from  above,  and  to  abstain  from  uttering  a 
sound,  if  she  valued  her  life  and  that  of  the  magician. 
After  some  simple  but  apparently  most  important  cere- 
monies, the  magician  threw  a  pinch  of  red  powder  upon 
the  flame,  which  instantly  changed  into  bright  crimson, 
while  a  few  plaintive  sounds  were  heard  and  red  clouds 


DIVINATIOX.  279 

seemed  to  rise  before  the  mirror,  broken  at  short  inter- 
vals by  vivid  flashes  of  lightning.  As  the  mist  dis- 
persed the  glass  exhibited  to  the  lady's  astonished  eye 
the  interior  of  a  church,  first  in  vague  outlines  undu1 
luting  as  passing  clouds  seemed  to  set  them  in  motion, 
but  soon  distinctly  and  clear  in  the  minutest  details. 
Then  a  priest  appeared  with  his  acolytes  at  the  altar, 
and  a  wedding  party  was  seen  standing  before  him, 
among  whom  Lady  Primrose  soon  recognized  her  faith- 
less husband.  Before  she  could  recover  from  her  pain- 
ful surprise  she  saw  a  stranger  hastily  entering  the 
church,  wrapped  in  his  cloak ;  at  the  moment  when 
the  priest,  who  had  been  performing  the  usual  ceremony, 
was  about  to  join  the  hands  of  the  couple  before  him, 
the  unknown  dropped  his  cloak  and  rushed  forward. 
Lady  Primrose  saw  it  was  her  own  brother,  who  drew 
his  sword  and  attacked  her  husband;  suddenly  a 
thrust  was  made  by  the  latter  which  threatened  to 
be  fatal,  and  the  poor  lady  cried  out:  "Great  God, 
they  will  kill  my  brother !  "  She  had  no  sooner  uttered 
these  words  than  the  whole  scene  in  the  mirror  became 
dim  and  blurred,  the  clouds  rose  again  and  formed 
dense  masses,  and  soon  the  glass  resumed  its  ordinary 
brightness  and  the  flame  its  faint  blue  color.  The 
magician,  apparently  much  excited,  informed  the  lady 
that  all  was  over,  and  that  they  had  escaped  a  most  fear- 
ful danger,  incurred  by  her  imprudence  in  speaking. 
He  would  accept  no  reward,  stating  that  he  had  merely 
wished  to  oblige  her,  but  would  not  have  dared  do  so 


280  MODERN   MAGIC. 

much,  if  he  had  foreseen  the  peril  to  which  they  h;ul 
both  been  exposed.  Lady  Primrose,  accompanied  by 
her  friend,  reached  home  in  a  state  of  extreme  excite- 
ment, but  immediately  wrote  down  the  hour  and  the 
day  of  her  strange  adventure,  with  a  full  account  of  all 
she  had  seen  in  the  magic  mirror.  The  paper  thus 
drawn  up  she  sealed  in  the  presence  of  her  companion 
and  hid  it  in  a  secret  drawer.  Not  long  afterwards  her 
brother  returned  from  the  Continent,  but  for  some  time 
refused  to  speak  at  all  of  her  husband ;  it  was  only 
after  being  long  and  urgently  pressed  by  the  poor  lady, 
that  he  consented  to  tell  her,  how  he  had  heard  of  Lord 
Primrose's  intention  to  marry  a  very  wealthy  lady  in 
Amsterdam,  how  by  mere  chance  he  had  entered  the 
church  where  the  marriage  ceremony  was  to  be  per- 
formed, and  how  he  had  come  out  just  in  time  to  pre- 
vent his  brother-in-law  from  committing  bigamy.  They 
had  fought  for  a  few  minutes  without  doing  each  other 
any  injury,  and  after  being  separated,  he  had  remained, 
while  Lord  Primrose  had  disappeared,  no  one  knew 
whither.  Upon  comparing  dates  and  circumstances,  it 
appeared  that  the  mirror  had  presented  the  scene  faith- 
fully in  all  its  details;  but  the  ceremony  had  taken 
place  in  the  morning,  the  visit  to  the  magician  at  night, 
so  that  the  latter  had,  after  all,  only  revealed  an  event 
already  completed.  There  remains,  however,  the  diffi- 
culty of  accounting  for  the  means  by  which  in  those 
days — about  1700 — an  event  in  Amsterdam  could 


DIVINATION.  281 

possibly  have  been  known  in  Edinburgh,  the  night  of 
the  same  day  on  which  it  occurred. 

In  France,  under  Louis  XIV.,  a  glass  of  water  was 
most  frequently  used  as  a  mirror  in  which  to  read  the 
future.  The  Duke  of  St.  Simon  reports  that  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  was  thus  informed  that  he  would  one  day 
become  Regent  of  France.  The  Abbe  Choisy  men- 
tions a  remarkable  occurrence  which  took  place  at  the 
house  of  the  Countess  of  Soissons,  a  niece  of  the  great 
Cardinal  Mazarin.  Her  husband  was  lying  sick  in  the 
province  of  Champagne,  and  she  was  anxious  to  know 
whether  she  ought  to  undertake  the  long  and  perilous 
journey  to  him  or  not;  in  this  dilemma  a  friend 
offered  to  send  for  a  diviner,  who  should  tell  her  the 
issue  of  her  husband's  illness.  He  brought  her  a  little 
girl,  five  years  old,  who,  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of 
distinguished  persons  of  both  sexes,  began,  under  the 
nobleman's  direction,  to  tell  what  she  saw  in  a  glass  of 
water.  When  she  began  by  saying  that  the  water  looked 
as  if  it  were  troubled,  the  poor  lady  was  so  frightened 
that  her  friend  suggested  he  would  ask  the  spirit  to 
show  the  child  not  her  husband  himself,  but  a  white 
horse,  if  the  Count  was  dead,  and  a  tiger  if  he  was  alive. 
Then  he  asked  the  girl  Avhat  she  saw  now?  "Ah!" 
she  cried  out  at  once,  "  what  a  pretty  white  horse!" 
The  company,  however,  refused  to  be  content  with  one 
trial ;  five  times  in  succession  the  test  was  altered,  and 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  little  child  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  aware  of  the  choice,  but  in  each  case  the 


282  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

answer  was  unfavorable  to  the  absent  Count.  It  ap- 
peared, afterwards,  that  he  had  really  died  a  day  or  two 
before  the  consultation.  One  of  the  most  striking 
cases  of  such  exceptional  endowment  was  a  Frenchman, 
Cahaguet,  who  in  his  work,  Lumiere  des  Morts  (Paris, 
1851),  claimed  to  see  remote  objects  and  persons.  He 
used  to  make  a  mental  effort,  upon  which  his  eyes  be- 
came fixed  and  he  saw  objects  at  a  great  distance,  read- 
ing the  title  and  discerning  the  precise  shape  of  books 
in  public  libraries,  or  watching  absent  friends  engaged 
in  unusual  occupations!  This  state  of  clairvoyance, 
however,  never  lasted  more  than  sixty  seconds,  nor 
could  he  ever  see  the  same  object  twice — limitations  of 
his  endowment  which  secured  for  him  greater  credit 
than  he  would  have  otherwise  possessed.  Occasionally 
he  would  assist  the  effort  he  had  to  make  by  fixedly 
gazing  at  some  shining  object,  such  as  a  small  ilaw  in  a 
mirror  or  a  glass.  Another  restraint  under  which  he 
labored,  and  which  yet  increased  the  faith  of  others, 
consisted  in  this,  that  such  sights  as  presented  them- 
selves spontaneously  to  him  proved  invariably  to  be 
true,  while  the  visions  which  he  purposely  evoked  were 
not  unfrequently  unfounded  in  fact. 

Among  recent  magicians  of  this  class,  a  Parisian, 
Edmond,  is  perhaps  the  most  generally  known.  He  is 
A  man  without  education,  who  leads  a  life  of  asceticism, 
and  is  said  to  equal  the  famous  Lennormand  in  his 
ability  to  guess  the  future  by  gazing  intently  at  certain 
cards.  The  latter,  although  not  free  from  the  charge 


DIVINATION.  283 

of  charlatanism,  possessed  undoubtedly  the  most  ex- 
traordinary talent  of  divining  the  thoughts  of  those 
who  came  to  consult  her,  and  an  almost  marvelous 
tact  in  connecting  the  knowledge  thus  obtained  with 
the  events  of  the  day.  She  began  her  career  already 
as  a  young  girl  at  a  convent-school,  where  her  play- 
mates asked  her  laughing  who  would  be  the  next 
abbess,  and  she  mentioned  an  entirely  unknown  lady 
from  Picardy  as  the  one  that  would  be  appointed  by 
the  king.  Contrary  to  all  expectations  the  favorite 
candidates  were  put  aside,  and  the  unknown  lady  ap- 
pointed, although  eighteen  months  elapsed  before  her 
prophecy  was  fulfilled.  As  early  as  1789  she  predicted 
the  overthrow  of  the  French  government,  and  during 
the  Kevolution  her  reputation  was  such  that  the  first 
men  of  the  land  came  to  consult  her.  The  unfortunate 
princess  Lamballe  and  Mirabeau,  Mme.  de  Stae'l  and 
the  king  himself,  all  appeared  in  her  stately  apart- 
ments. Her  efforts  to  save  the  queen,  to  whose  prison 
she  managed  to  obtain  access,  were  unsuccessful ;  but 
when  her  aristocratic  connections  caused  her  to  be  im- 
prisoned herself,  even  the  noble  and  virtuous  Mme. 
Tallien  sought  her  society.  The  new  dynast}7,  whose 
members  were  almost  without  exception  more  or  less 
superstitious,  as  it  is  the  nature  of  all  Corsicans,  con- 
sulted her  frequently ;  the  great  Napoleon  came  to  her 
in  1793,  when  he  was  disgusted  with  France,  and  on 
the  point  of  leaving  the  country ;  he  sent  for  her  a 
second  time  in  1801  to  confer  with  her  at  Malmaison, 


284  MODERN    MAGIC. 

and  the  fair  Josephine  actually  conceived  for  her  a 
deep  and  lasting  attachment.  Afterwards,  however, 
she  became  as  obnoxious  to  the  Emperor  as  his  invet- 
erate enemy,  Mme.  de  Stae'l ;  she  was  repeatedly  sent 
to  prison  because  she  predicted  failures,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  projected  invasion  of  England,  or  because  she 
revealed  the  secret  plans  of  Napoleon.  The  Emperor 
Alexander  of  Eussia  also  consulted  her  in  1818,  and  of 
the  Prussian  king,  Frederick  William  III,  it  is  at  least 
reported  that  he  visited  her  incognito.  After  the  year 
1830  she  appeared  but  rarely  in  her  character  as  a 
diviner;  she  had  become  old  and  rich,  and  did  not  per- 
haps wish  to  risk  her  world-wide  reputation  by  too 
numerous  revelations.  She  maintained,  however,  for 
the  rest  of  her  life  the  most  intimate  relations  with 
many  eminent  men  in  France,  and  when  she  died,  in 
1843,  seventy-one  years  old,  leaving  to  her  nephew  a 
very  large  fortune,  her  gorgeous  funeral  was  attended 
by  a  host  of  distinguished  personages,  including  even 
men  of  such  character  as  Guizot.  And  yet  she  also 
had  not  disdained  to  use  the  most  absurd  and  appar- 
ently childish  means  in  order  to  produce  the  state  of 
ecstasy  in  which  she  alone  could  divine :  playing-cards 
fancifully  arranged,  the  white  of  an  egg,  the  sediment 
of  coffee,  or  the  lines  in  the  hand  of  her  visitors.  At 
the  same  time,  however,  she  used  the  information  which 
she  casually  picked  up  or  purposely  obtained  from  her 
great  friends  with  infinite  cunning  and  matchless  tact, 
so  that  the  better  informed  often  asked  her  laughingly 


DIVINATION.  285 

if  her  familiar  spirit  Ariel  was  not  also  known  as 
Talleyrand,  David,  or  Geoffroy  ?  The  charlatanism 
Avhich  often  and  most  justly  rendered  her  proceedings 
suspicious  to  sober  men,  was  in  fact  part  of  her  system ; 
she  knew  perfectly  well  the  old  doctrine,  imindus  vuU 
decipi,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  flatter  the  fondness  of 
all  Frenchmen  for  a  theatrical  mise  en  scene. 

Dryden's  famous  horoscope  of  his  younger  son 
Charles  was  probably  nothing  more  than  one  of  those 
rare  but  striking  coincidences  of  which  the  laws  of  prob- 
ability give  us  the  exact  value.  He  loved  the  study  of 
astrology  and  never  omitted  to  calculate  the  nativity  of 
his  children  as  soon  as  they  were  born.  In  the  case  of 
Charles  he  discovered  that  great  dangers  would  threat- 
en him  in  his  eighth,  twenty-third,  and  thirty-third  or 
forty-third  year ;  and  sure  enough  those  years  produced 
serious  troubles.  On  his  eighth  birthday  he  was  buried 
under  a  falling  wall ;  on  the  twenty-third  he  fell  in  Rome 
from  an  old  tower,  and  on  his  thirty-third  he  was 
drowned  'in  the  Thames. 

Divination  by  means  of  bones — generally  the  shoul- 
der bones  of  rams — is  quite  common  among  the  Mon- 
gols and  Tongoose,  and  the  custom  seems  to  have 
remained  unchanged  through  centuries.  For  Purchas 
already  quotes  from  the  "Journal"  of  the  Minorite 
monk  Guillaume  de  Rubruguis,  written  in  1255,  a  de- 
scription of  the  manner  in  which  the  Great  Khan  of 
Mongolia  tried  to  ascertain  the  result  of  any  great  en- 
terprise which  he  might  contemplate.  Three  shoulder 


286  MODERN   MAGIC. 

bones  of  rams  were  brought  to  him,  which  he  held  for 
some  time  in  his  hands,  while  deeply  meditating  on  the 
subject ;  then  he  threw  them  into  the  fire.  After  they 
were  burnt  black  they  were  again  laid  before  him  and 
examined ;  if  they  had  cracked  lengthways  the  omen 
was  favorable,  if  crossways  the  enterprise  was  abandon- 
ed. Almost  identically  the  same  process  is  described  by 
the  great  traveler  Pallas,  who  witnessed  it  repeatedly 
and  obtained  very  startling  communications  from  the 
Mongol  priests.  But  here  also  violent  dancing,  narcotic 
perfumes,  and  wild  cries  had  to  aid  in  producing  a 
trance.  The  Laplanders  have,  perhaps,  the  most  strik- 
ing magic  powers  which  seem  to  be  above  suspicion. 
At  least  we  are  assured  by  every  traveler  who  has  spent 
some  time  among  them,  from  Caspar  Peucer  ("  Com- 
mentaries," etc.,  Wittebergae,  1580,  p.  132)  down  to  the 
tourists  of  our  days  ("  Six  Months  in  Lapland,"  1870), 
that  they  not  only  see  persons  at  the  greatest  distance, 
but  furnish  minute  details  as  to  their  occupation  or 
surroundings.  After  having  invoked  the  aid  of  his 
gods  the  magician  falls  down  like  a  dead  man  and  re- 
mains in  a  state  of  trance  for  twenty-four  hours,  during 
which  foreigners  are  always  warned  to  have  him  care- 
fully guarded,  "lest  the  demons  should  carry  him  off." 
During  this  time  the  seer  maintains  that  his  '•'  soul  opens 
the  gates  of  the  body  and  moves  about  freely  wherever 
it  chooses  to  go."  When  he  returns  to  consciousness 
he  describes  accurately  and  minutely  the  persons  about 
whom  he  has  promised  to  give  information.  In  the 


DIVINATION.  287 

East  Indies  it  is  well  known  clairvoyance  has  existed 
from  time  immemorial,  and  the  kind  of  trance  which 
consists  in  utter  oblivion  of  actual  life  and  perfect  ab- 
straction of  thought  from  this  world  is  there  carried 
out  to  perfection.  The  faithful  believer  sits  or  lies 
down  in  any  position  he  may  happen  to  prefer  for  the 
moment,  fixes  his  eyes  intently  upon  the  point  of  his 
nose,  mutters  the  word  One,  and  finally  beholds  God 
with  an  inner  sense,  in  the  form  of  a  white  brilliant 
light  of  ineffable  splendor.  Some  of  these  ascetics  pass 
from  a  simple  trance  to  a  state  of  catalepsy,  in  which 
their  bodies  become  insensible  to  pain — but  this  kind 
of  ecstasis  is  not  accompanied  by  divination. 

Another  branch  of  divination  conquers  the  difficulty 
which  distance  in  space  opposes  to  our  ordinary  percep- 
tions. In  all  such  cases  it  is  of  course  not  our  hearing 
or  smelling  which  suddenly  becomes  miraculously 
powerful,  but  another  magic  power,  which  causes 
impressions  on  the  mind  like  those  produced  by  the  eye 
and  the  ear.  The  oldest  well-authenticated  instance  of 
magic  hearing  is  probably  that  of  Hyrcanus,  the  high- 
priest  of  the  Jews,  who  while  burning  incense  in  the 
temple,  heard  a  voice  saying :  "  Now  Antiochus  has 
been  slain  by  thy  sons."  The  news  was  immediately 
proclaimed  to  the  people,  and  some  time  afterward  mes- 
sengers came  announcing  that  Antiochus  had  thus 
perished  as  he  approached  Samaria,  which  he  desired  to 
relieve  from  the  besieging  army  under  the  sons  of 
Hyrcanus  (Josephus,  "Antiq."  Ixiii.  ch.  19).  A  still 


288  MODERN    MAGIC. 

more  striking  instance  is  also  reported  by  a  trustAvorthy 
author  (Theophylactos  Simocata,  1.  viii.  ch.  13).  A 
man  in  Alexandria,  Egypt,  saw,  as  he  returned  home 
about  midnight,  the  statues  before  the  great  temple 
moved  aside  from  their  seats,  and  heard  them  call  out 
to  him  that  the  Emperor  had  been  slain  by  Phocas 
(602).  Thoroughly  frightened  he  hastened  to  the 
authorities,  reporting  his  adventure;  he  was  carried  be- 
fore Peter,  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt,  and  ordered  to  keep 
silence.  Nine  days  later,  however,  the  official  news 
came  that  the  Emperor  had  been  murdered.  It  is 
evident  that  the  knowledge  of  the  event  came  to  him  in 
some  mysterious  way,  and  for  an  unknown  purpose;  but 
that  what  he  saw  and  heard,  was  purely  the  work  of  his 
imagination,  which  became  the  vehicle  of  the  revelation. 
There  exists  a  long,  almost  unbroken  series  of  similar 
phenomena  through  the  entire  course  of  modern  history, 
of  which  but  a  few  can  here  find  space.  Richelieu  tells 
us  in  his  M'emoires  ("Coll.  Michaud — Poryoulat,"  2d 
series,  vii.  p.  23),  that  the  Prevost  ties  Marecliaux  of  the 
city  of  Pithiviers  was  one  night  engaged  in  playing 
cards  in  his  house,  Avhen  he  suddenly  hesitated,  fell  into 
a  deep  musing,  and  then,  turning  to  his  companions, 
said  solemnly :  "The  king  has  just  been  murdered!" 
These  words  made  a  deep  impression  upon  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  assembly,  which  afterward  changed  into 
genuine  terror,  when  it  became  known  that  on  that 
same  evening,  at  the  same  hour  of  four  o'clock,  p.  M., 
Henry  IV.  had  really  been  murdered.  Nor  was  this  a 


DIVINATION.  289 

solitary  case,  for  on  the  same  day  a  girl  of  fourteen, 
living  near  the  city  of  Orleans,  had  asked  her  father, 
Simonne,  what  a  king  was  ?  Upon  his  replying  that  it 
was  the  man  who  commanded  all  Frenchmen,  she  had 
exclaimed :  "  Great  God,  I  have  this  moment  heard 
somebody  tell  me  that  he  was  murdered ! "  It  seems 
that  the  minds  of  men  were  just  then  everywhere  deeply 
interested  in  the  fate  of  the  king,  and  hence  their  readi- 
ness to  anticipate  an  event  which  was  no  doubt  very 
generally  apprehended;  even  from  abroad  numerous 
letters  had  been  received  announcing  his  death  before- 
hand. In  the  two  cases  mentioned  this  excitement  had 
risen  to  divination.  The  author  of  the  famous  Zauber 
Bibliothek,  Horst,  mentions  (i.  p.  285)  that  his  father,  a 
well-known  missionary,  was  once  traveling  in  company 
with  the  renowned  Hebrew  scholar  Wiedemaun,  while  a 
third  companion,  ordinarily  engaged  with  them  in  con- 
verting Jews,  was  out  at  sea.  It  was  a  fine,  bright  day ; 
no  rain  or  wind  visible  even  at  a  distance.  "Wiedemann 
had  walked  for  some  time  in  deep  silence,  apparently 
engaged  in  praying,  when  suddenly  he  stopped  and 
said :  "  Monsieur  Horst,  take  your  diary  and  write  down, 
that  our  companion  is  at  this  moment  exposed  to  great 
peril  by  water.  The  storm  will  last  till  night  and  the 
danger  will  be  fearful ;  but  the  Lord  will  mercifully 
preserve  him  and  the  vessel,  and  no  lives  will  be  lost. 
Write  it  down  carefully,  so  that  when  our  friend  returns, 
we  may  jointly  thank  God  for  His  great  mercy."  The 
missionary  did  so,  and  when  the  three  friends  were 

13 


290  JIODEKN    MAGIC. 

united  once  more  their  diaries  were  compared,  and  it 
appeared  that  the  statement  had  been  exact  in  all  iU 
details. 

Clairvoyance,  as  far  as  it  implies  the  seeing  of  per- 
sons or  the  witnessing  of  events  at  a  great  distance,  is 
counted  among  the  most  frequent  gifts  of  early  saints, 
and  St.  Augustine  mentions  a  number  of  remarkable 
cases.  Not  only  absent  friends  and  their  fate  were  thus 
beheld  by  privileged  Christians,  but  even  the  souls  of 
departing  saints  Avere  seen  as  they  were  borne  to  heaven 
by  angelic  hosts.  The  same  exceptional  gifts  were  ap- 
parently granted  to  the  early  Jesuit  fathers ;  thus  Xa- 
vier  once  saw  distinctly  a  whole  naval  expedition  sailing 
against  the  pirates  of  Malacca  and  defeating  them  in  a 
great  naval  battle.  He  had  himself  caused  the  fleet  to 
be  sent  from  Sumatra,  and  remained  during  the  whole 
time  in  a  trance.  He  had  fallen  down  unconscious  at 
the  foot  of  the  altar,  where  he  had  been  fervently  pray- 
ing for  a  long  time,  and  during  his  unconsciousness  he 
saw  not  only  a  general  image  of  what  was  occurring  at 
a  distance  of  200  Portuguese  leagues,  but  every  detail, 
so  that  upon  recovering  from  the  trance  he  could 
announce  to  his  brethren  the  good  news  of  a  great  vic- 
tory, of  the  loss  of  only  three  lives,  and  of  the  very  day 
and  hour  on  which  the  official  report  would  be  received 
(Orlandini,  1.  vii.  ch.  84).  Queen  Margaret,  not  always 
reliable,  still  seems  to  state  well-known  facts  only,  when 
she  tells  us  in  her  famous  Mtmoircs  (Paris,  1658)  the 
visions  of  her  mother,  the  great  Queen  Catherine  de 


DI VI  NATION.  2'Jl 

Medici.  The  latter  was  lying  dangerously  ill  at  Metz, 
and  King  Charles,  a  sister,  and  another  brother  of  Mar- 
garet of  Valois,  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  and  a  number  of 
eminent  persons  of  both  sexes,  were  assembled  around 
what  was  believed  to  be  her  death-bed.  She  was  delir- 
ious, and  suddenly  cried  out:  "Just  see  how  they  run  ! 
my  son  is  victorious.  Great  God !  raise  him  up,  he  has 
fallen  !  Do  you  see  the  Prince  of  Conde  there  ?  He  is 
dead."  Everybody  thought  she  was  delirious,  but  on  the 
next  evening  a  messenger  came  bringing  the  news  of  the 
battle  of  Jarnac,  and  as  he  mentioned  the  main  events, 
she  calmly  turned  to  her  children,  saying:  "Ah!  I 
knew ;  I  saw  it  all  yesterday !  "  It  seems  as  if  in  times 
of  great  and  general  expectation,  when  bloody  battles 
are  fought,  and  the  destiny  of  empires  hangs  in  the 
scales,  the  minds  of  the  masses  become  so  painfully  ex- 
cited that  the  most  sensitive  among  them  fall  into  a 
kind  of  trance,  and  then  perceive,  by  magic  powers  of 
divination,  what  is  taking  place  at  great  distances.  This 
over-excitement  is,  moreover,  not  unknown  to  men  of 
the  highest  character  and  the  greatest  erudition.  Calvin, 
whose  stern,  clear-sighted  judgment  abhorred  all  super- 
stition, nevertheless  once  saw  a  battle  between  Catholics 
and  Protestants  with  all  its  details.  Swedenborg,  whose 
religious  enthusiasm  never  interfered  with  his  scrupu- 
lous candor,  saw  more  than  once  with  his  mind's  eye 
events  occurring  at  a  distance  of  hundreds  of  miles. 
His  vision  of  the  gi'eat  lire  at  Stockholm  is  too  well 
authenticated  to  admit  of  doubt.  Not  less  reliable  are 


292  MODERN   MAGIC. 

the  accounts  of  another  vision  he  had  at  Amsterdam  in 
the  presence  of  a  large  company.  While  engaged  in  ani- 
mated conversation,  he  suddenly  changed  countenance 
and  became  silent;  the  persons  near  him  saw  that  he 
was  under  the  influence  of  some  strong  impression. 
After  a  few  moments  he  seemed  to  recover,  and  over- 
whelmed with  questions,  he  at  last  reluctantly  said: 
"In  this  hour  the  Emperor  Peter  IV.  of  Eussia  has 
suffered  death  in  his  prison !  "  It  was  ascertained  after- 
wards that  the  unfortunate  sovereign  had  died  on  that 
day  and  in  the  manner  indicated. 

Among  modern  seers  the  most  remarkable  was  pro- 
bably the  well-known  poet,  Emile  Deschamps,  who 
published  in  1838  interesting  accounts  of  his  own  ex- 
periences. When  he  was  only  eight  years  old  it  was 
decided  that  he  should  leave  Paris  and  be  sent  to 
Orleans;  this  troubled  him  sorely,  and  in  his  great 
grief  he  found  some  little  comfort  in  setting  his  lively 
fancy  to  work  and  to  imagine  what  the  new  city  would 
be  like.  When  he  reached  Orleans  he  was  extremely 
surprised  to  recognize  the  streets,  the  shops,  and  even 
the  names  on  the  sign-boards,  everything  was  exactly 
as  he  had  seen  it  in  his  day-dreams.  While  he  was  yet 
there  he  saw  his  mother,  whom  he  had  left  in  Paris,  in 
a  dream  rising  gently  heavenwards  with  a  palm-branch 
in  her  hand,  and  heard  her  voice,  very  faint  but  sil- 
very, call  to  him,  "  Emile,  Emile,  my  son !  "  She  had 
died  in  the  same  night,  uttering  these  words  with  her 
departing  breath.  Later  in  life  he  often  heard  strange 


DIVINATION.  293 

but  enchanting  music  while  in  a  state  of  partial  ecstasis ; 
lie  saw  distant  events,  and,  among  others,  distinctly 
described  a  barricade,  the  defenders  of  the  adjoining 
house,  and  certain  events  connected  with  the  fight  at 
that  spot,  as  they  had  happened  in  Paris  on  the  same 
day  (Le  Concile  de  la  libre pensee,  i.  p.  183). 

A  still  higher  power  of  divination  enables  men  to 
read  in  the  faces  and  forms  of  others,  even  of  totally 
unknown  persons,  not  only  the  leading  traits  of  their 
character,  but  even  the  nature  of  their  former  lives. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  every  important  event  in 
our  life  leaves  a  more  or  less  perceptible  trace  behind, 
which  the  acute  and  experienced  observer  may  learn  to 
read  with  tolerable  distinctness  and  accuracy.  It  is 
well  known  how  the  study  of  the  human  face  enables 
us  thus  to  discern  one  secret  after  another,  and  how 
really  great  men  have  possessed  the  power  to  judge  of 
the  capacity  of  generals  or  statesmen  to  serve  them,  by 
natural  instinct  and  without  any  effort.  We  say  of 
specially  endowed  men  of  this  class,  that  they  "  can 
read  the  souls  of  men,"  and  what  is  most  interesting  is 
the  well-established  fact  that  the  purer  the  mind  and 
the  freer  from  selfishness  and  conceit,  the  greater  this 
power  to  feel,  as  it  were,  the  character  of  others.  Hence 
the  superiority  of  women  in  this  respect ;  hence,  espe- 
cially, the  unfailing  instinct  of  children,  which  enables 
them  instantly  to  distinguish  affected  love  from  real 
love,  and  makes  them  shrink  often  painfully  from  con- 
tact with  evil  men. 


294  MODERN   MAGIC. 

"When  this  power  reaches  in  older  men  a  high  degree 
of  perfection,  it  enters  within  the  limits  of  magic,  and 
in  this  form  was  well  known  to  the  ancients.  The  ^co- 
Platonic  Plotinus  is  reported  by  Porphyrius  to  have 
been  almost  marvelously  endowed  with  such  divining 
powers ;  he  revealed  to  his  pnpils  the  past  and  the  fu- 
ture events  of  their  lives  alike,  and  once  charged  the 
author  himself  with  cherishing  thoughts  of  suicide, 
when  no  one  else  suspected  such  a  purpose.  In  like 
manner,  we  are  told,  Ancus  Nsevius,  the  famous  augur 
of  the  first  Tarquins,  could  read  all  he  desired  to  know 
in  the  faces  of  others.  The  saints  of  the  church  were 
naturally  as  richly  endowed,  and  from  Filipo  Neri  to 
Xavier  nearly  all  possessed  this  peculiar  gift  of  divina- 
tion. But  other  men,  also,  and  by  no  means  always 
those  most  abundantly  endowed  with  mental  superiority, 
have  frequently  a  peculiar  talent  of  this  kind.  Thus 
the  well-known  writer  Zschokke,  the  author  of  the  ad- 
mirable work,  "  Hours  of  Devotion,"  gives  in  his  auto- 
biographical work,  Selbsfschau,  a  full  account  of  his 
peculiar  gifts  as  a  seer,  which  contains  the  following 
principal  facts:  At  the  moment  when  an  utter  stranger 
was  first  introduced  to  him,  he  saw  a  picture  of  his 
whole  previous  life  rising  gradually  before  his  mind's 
eye,  resembling  somewhat  a  long  dream,  but  clear  and 
closely  connected.  During  this,  time  he  would,  contrary 
to  his  general  custom,  lose  sight  of  the  visitors  face 
and  no  longer  hear  his  voice.  He  used  to  treat  these 
involuntary  revelations  at  first  as  mere  idle  fancies,  till 


DIVINATION.  295 

one  day  lie  was  led  by  a  kind  of  sportive  impulse  to 
tell  his  family  tlie  secret  history  of  a  seamstress  who 
had  just  left  the  room,  and  whom  he  had  never  seen  be- 
fore. It  was  soon  ascertained  that  all  he  had  stated 
was  perfectly  true,  though  known  only  to  very  few  per- 
sons. From  that  time  he  treated  these  visions  more 
seriously,  taking  pains  to  repeat  them  in  a  number  of 
cases  to  the  persons  whom  they  concerned,  and  to  his 
own  great  amazement  they  turned  out  in  every  case  to 
be  perfectly  accurate.  The  author  adds  one  case  of  pe- 
culiarly striking  nature :  '•'  One  day,"  he  says,  "  I  reach- 
ed the  town  of  Waldshut,  accompanied  by  two  young 
foresters,  who  are  still  alive.  It  was  dusk,  and  tired  by 
our  walk  we  entered  an  inn  called  The  Grapevine.  "We 
took  our  supper  at  the  public  table  in  company  with 
numerous  guests,  who  happened  to  be  laughing  at  the 
oddities  and  the  simplicity  of  the  Swiss,  their  faith  in 
Mesmer,  in  Lavater's  *  System  of  the  Physiognomy,'  etc. 
One  of  my  companions,  hurt  in  his  national  pride, 
asked  me  to  make  a  reply,  especially  with  regard  to  a 
young  man  sitting  opposite  to  us,  whose  pretentious 
airs  and  merciless  laughter  had  been  peculiarly  offen- 
sive. It  so  happened  that,  a  few  moments  before,  the 
main  events  in  the  life  of  this  person  had  passed  before 
my  mind's  eye.  I  turned  to  him  and  asked  him  if  he 
would  answer  me  candidly  upon  being  told  the  most 
secret  parts  of  his  life  by  a  man  who  was  so  complete  a 
stranger  to  him  as  I  was  ?  That,  I  added,  would  certainly 
go  even  beyond  Lavater's  power  to  read  faces.  He  prom- 


296  MODERN    MAGIC. 

ised  to  confess  it  openly,  if  I  stated  facts.  Thereupon 
I  related  all  I  had  seen  in  my  mind,  and  informed  thus 
the  whole  company  at  table  of  the  young  man's  history, 
the  events  of  his  life  at  school,  his  petty  sins,  and  at  last 
a  robbery  which  he  had  committed  by  pilfering  his  em- 
ployer's strong-box.  I  described  the  empty  room  with  its 
whitewashed  walls  and  brown  door,  near  which  on  the 
right  hand,  a  small  black  money-box  had  been  standing 
on  a  table,  and  other  details.  As  long  as  I  spoke  there 
reigned  a  deathlike  silence  in  the  room,  which  was  only 
interrupted  by  my  asking  the  young  man,  from  time  to 
time,  if  all  I  said  was  not  true.  He  admitted  everything, 
although  evidently  in  a  state  of  utter  consternation,  and 
at  last,  deeply  touched  by  his  candor,  I  offered  him  my 
hand  across  the  table  and  closed  my  recital." 

This  popular  writer,  a  man  of  unblemished  character, 
who  died  in  1850,  regretted  by  a  whole  nation,  makes 
this  account  of  his  own  prophetic  power  still  more  in- 
teresting by  adding  that  he  met  at  least  once  in  his  life 
another  man  similarly  endowed.  "  I  once  encountered," 
he  says,  "  while  travelling  with  two  of  my  sons,  an  old 
Tyrolese,  a  peddler  of  oranges  and  lemons,  in  a  small  inn 
half  concealed  in  one  of  the  narrow  passes  of  the  Jura 
Mountains.  He  fixed  his  eyes  for  some  time  upon  my 
face,  and  then  entered  into  conversation  with  me,  stating 
that  he  knew  me,  although  I  did  not  know  him,  and 
then  began,  to  the  intense  delight  of  the  peasants  who 
sat  around  us  and  of  my  children,  to  chat  about  myself 
and  my  past  life.  How  the  old  man  had  acquired  his 


DIVINATION.  297 

strange  knowledge  he  could  not  explain  to  himself  or  to 
others,  but  he  evidently  valued  it  highly,  while  my  sons 
were  not  a  little  astonished  to  discover  that  other  men 
possessed  the  same  gift  which  they  had  only  known  to 
exist  in  their  father." 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  human  eye  has, 
beyond  question,  often  a  power  which  far  transcends  the 
ordinary  purposes  of  sight,  and  approaches  the  bound- 
aries of  magic.  There  is  probably  no  one  who  cannot 
recall  scenes  in  which  the  soothing  and  cheering  ex- 
pression of  gentle  eyes  has  acted  like  healing  balm  on 
wounded  hearts ;  or  others,  in  which  glances  of  fury  and 
hatred  have  caused  genuine  terror  and  frightened  the 
conscience.  History  records  a  number  of  instances,  from 
the  glance  of  the  Saviour,  which  made  Peter  go  out  and 
weep  bitterly,  to  the  piercing  eye  of  a  well-known  English 
judge,  which  made  criminals  of  every  rank  in  society  feel 
as  iftheir  very  hearts  lay  open  to  the  divining  eye  of  a  mas- 
ter. This  peculiar  and  almost  irresistible  power  of  the  eye 
has  not  inaptly  been  traced  back  to  the  gorgon  head  of 
antiquity — a  frightful  image  from  Hades  with  a  dread 
glance  of  the  eye,  as  it  is  called  by  Homer  (II.  viii.  349  ; 
Odyss.  xi.  633).  The  same  fearful  expression,  chilling 
the  blood  and  almost  arresting  the  beating  of  the  heart, 
is  frequently  mentioned  in  modern  accounts  of  visions. 
Thus  the  Demon  of  Tedworth  recorded  by  Glanvil 
("Sadd.  Triumph,"  4th  ed.  p.  270),  consisted  of  the 
vague  outlines  of  a  human  face,  in  which  only  two  bright, 
piercing  eyes  could  be  distinguished.  In  other  cases,  a 


298  MODERN    MAGIC. 

faint  vapor,  barely  recalling  a  human  shape,  arises  before 
the  beholder,  and  above  it  are  seen  the  same  terrible  eyes 

"  Sent  from  the  palace  of  Ais  by  fearful  Fcrsephoneia." 

Magic  divination  in  point  of  time  includes  the  class 
of  generally  very  vague  and  indefinite  perceptions, 
which  we  call  presentiments.  These  are,  unfortunately, 
so  universally  mixed  up  with  impressions  produced 
after  the  occurrence — raticinium  post  evcntum — that 
their  value  as  interesting  phenomena  of  magic  is  seri- 
ously impaired.  There  remains,  however,  in  a  num- 
ber of  cases,  enough  that  is  free  from  all  spurious 
admixture,,  to  admit  of  being  examined  seriously.  The 
ancients  not  only  believed  in  this  kind  of  foresight,  but 
ascribed  it  with  Pythagoras  to  revelations  made  by 
friendly  spirits;  in  Holy  Writ  it  rises  almost  invariably, 
under  direct  inspiration  from  on  high,  to  genuine 
prophecy.  It  reveals  not  only  the  fate  of  the  seer,  but 
also  that  of  others,  and  even  of  whole  nations;  the 
details  vary,  of  course,  according  to  the  prevailing 
spirit  of  the  times. 

When  Narses  was  ruling  over  Italy,  a  young  shep- 
herd in  the  service  of  Valerianus,  a  lawyer,  was  seized 
by  the  plague  and  fell  into  syncope.  He  recovered  for 
a  time,  and  then  declared  that  he  had  been  carried  to 
heaven,  where  he  had  heard  the  names  of  all  who  in  his 
master's  house  should  die  of  the  plague,  adding  that 
Valerianus  himself  would  escape.  After  his  death 
everything  occurred  as  he  had  predicted.  An  English 


DIVINATION.  299 

minister,  Mr.  Dodd,  one  night  felt  an  irresistible  im- 
pulse to  visit  a  friend  of  his  who  lived  at  some  distance. 
He  walked  to  his  house,  found  the  family  asleep,  but 
the  father  still  awake  and  ready  to  open  the  door  to  his 
late  visitor.  The  latter,  very  much  embarrassed,  thought 
it  best  to  state  the  matter  candidly,  and  confessed  that 
he  came  for  no  ostensible  purpose,  and  really  did  not 
know  himself  what  made  him  do  so.  "But  God  knew 
it,"  was  the  answer,  "  for  here  is  the  rope  with  which 
I  was  just  about  to  hang  myself."  It  may  well  be 
presumed  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dodd  had  some  apprehen- 
sions of  the  state  of  mind  of  his  friend;  but  that  he 
should  have  felt  prompted  to  call  upon  him  just  at  that 
hour,  was  certainly  not  a  mere  accident. 

The  family  of  the  great  Goethe  was  singularly  en- 
dowed with  this  power  of  presentiment.  The  poet's 
grandfather  predicted  both  a  great  conflagration  and 
the  unexpected  arrival  of  the  German  Emperor,  and  a 
dream  informed  him  beforehand  of  his  election  as 
alderman  and  then  as  mayor  of  his  native  city.  His 
mother's  sister  saw  hidden  things  in  her  dreams.  His 
grandmother  once  entered  her  daughter's  chamber 
long  after  midnight  in  a  state  of  great  and  painful  ex- 
citement; she  had  heard  in  her  own  room  a  noise  like 
the  rustling  of  papers,  and  then  deep  sighs,  and  after  a 
while  a  cold  breath  had  struck  her.  Some  time  after 
this  event  a  stranger  was  announced,  and  when  he 
appeared  before  her  holding  a  crumbled  paper  in  his 
hand,  she  had  barely  strength  enough  to  keep  from 


300  MODERN    MAGIC. 

fainting.  AVhen  she  recovered,  her  visitor  stated  tluit 
in  the  night  of  her  vision  a  dear  friend  of  hers,  lying 
on  his  deathbed,  had  asked  for  paper  in  order  to  impart 
to  her  an  important  secret ;  before  he  could  write. 
however,  he  had  been  seized  by  the  death-struggle,  and 
after  crumpling  up  the  paper  and  uttering  two  deep 
sighs  he  had  expired.  ,  An  indistinct  scrawl  was  all 
that  could  be  seen ;  still  the  stranger  had  thought  it 
best  to  bring  the  paper.  The  secret  concerned  his  now 
orphaned  child,  a  girl  whom  Goethe's  grandparents 
thereupon  took  home  and  cared  for  affectionately 
(Goethe's  BriefwecJisel,  3d  ed.,  II.  p.  268). 

Bourrienne  tells  us  in  his  Memoires  several  instances 
of  remarkable  forebodings  on  the  part  of  Napoleon's 
first  wife,  Josephine.  Her  mind  was  probably,  by  her 
education  and  the  peculiar  surroundings  in  which  she 
passed  her  childhood,  predisposed  to  receive  vivid  im- 
pressions of  this  kind,  and  to  observe  them  with  great 
care  and  deep  interest.  Thus  she  almost  invariably 
predicted  the  failure  of  such  of  her  husband's  enter- 
prises as  proved  unsuccessful.  After  Bonaparte  had 
moved  into  the  Tuileries  on  the  18th  Brumaire,  she  saw, 
while  sitting  in  the  room  of  poor  Marie  Antoinette, 
the  shadow  of  the  unfortunate  queen  rise  from  the 
floor,  pass  gently  through  the  apartment,  and  vanish 
through  the  window.  She  fainted,  and  from  that  day 
predicted  her  own  sad  fate.  On  another  occasion  the 
spirit  of  her  first  husband,  Beauharnais,  appeared  before 
her  with  a  gesture  of  solemn  warning;  she  immediately 


DIVIXATIOX.  301 

turned  to  Napoleon,  exclaiming:  "Awake,  awake,  yon 
are  threatened  by  a  great  danger!"  There  seemed  to 
be,  for  some  days,  no  ground  for  apprehension,  but  so 
strong  were  her  fears  that  she  secretly  sent  for  the 
minister  of  police  and  entreated  him  to  take  special 
measures  for  the  safety  of  the  First  Consul.  At  eight 
o'clock  of  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  latter  left 
the  Tuileries  on  his  way  to  the  opera ;  a  terrible  explo- 
sion was  heard  in  the  Eue  St.  Nicaise,  where  conspir- 
ators attempted  to  blow  up  the  dictator,  and  he  nar- 
rowly escaped  with  his  life.  Josephine  at  once  has- 
tened to  his  side,  and  after  having  most  tenderly  cared 
for  the  wounded,  embraced  Napoleon  in  public  with 
tears  streaming  down  her  face,  and  implored  him 
hereafter  to  listen  more  attentively  to  her  warnings. 
Napoleon,  however,  though  superstitious  enough  firmly 
to  believe  in  what  he  called  his  "  star,"  and  even  to  see 
it  shining  in  the  heavens  when  no  one  else  beheld  it, 
never  would  admit  the  value  of  his  wife's  forebodings. 

Presentiments  of  this  kind  are  most  frequently  felt 
before  death,  and  it  is  now  almost  universally  believed 
that  the  impending  dissolution  of  the  body  relieves  the 
spirit  in  many  cases  fully  enough  from  its  bondage  to 
endow  it  with  a  clear  and  distinct  anticipation  of  the 
coming  event.  A  large  number  of  historical  personages 
have  thus  been  enabled  to  predict  the  day,  and  many 
even  the  hour  of  their  own  death.  The  Connetable  de 
Bourbon,  who  was  besieging  Eome,  addressed,  according 
to  Brantome  ( Vies  des  gr.  capit  nines,  ch.  28),  on  the 


302  MODERN    MAGIC. 

day  of  the  final  assault,  his  troops,  and  told  them  ho 
would  certainly  fall  before  the  Eternal  City,  but  without 
regret  if  they  but  proved  victorious.  Henry  IV.  of 
France,  felt  his  death  coming,  according  to  the  unani- 
mous evidence  of  Sully,  L'Etoile,  and  Bassompierre, 
and  said,  before  he  entered  his  coach  on  the  fatal  day : 
"My  friend,  I  would  rather  not  go  out  to-day ;  I  know 
I  shall  meet  with  misfortune."  On  the  16th  of  May, 
1813,  four  days  before  the  battle  of  Bautzen,  two  of 
Napoleon's  great  officers,  the  Duke  of  Vicenza  and 
Marshal  Duroc,  were  in  attendance  at  Dresden  while  the 
emperor  was  holding  a  protracted  conference  with  the 
Austrian  ambassador.  The  clock  was  striking  mid- 
night, when  suddenly  Duroc  seized  his  companion  by 
the  arm  and  with  frightfully  altered  features,  looking 
intently  at  him,  said  in  trembling  tones :  "  My  friend, 
this  lasts  too  long ;  we  shall  all  of  us  perish,  and  he  last 
of  all.  A  secret  voice  tells  me  that  I  shall  never  see 
France  again."  It  is  well  known  that  on  the  day  of  the 
battle  a  cannon-ball  which  had  already  killed  General 
Kirchner,  wounded  Duroc  also  mortally,  and  when  he 
lay  on  his  deathbed  he  once  more  turned  to  the  Duke 
of  Yicenza  and  reminded  him  of  the  words  he  had 
spoken  in  Dresden. 

The  trustworthy  author  of  "  Eight  Months  in  Japan," 
X.  Liihdorf,  tells  us  (p.  158)  a  remarkable  instance  of 
unconscious  foreboding  on  the  part  of  a  common  sailor. 
The  American  barque  Greta  was  in  1855  chartered  to 
carry  a  great  number  of  Russians,  who  had  been  ship- 


DIVINATION.  303 

wrecked  on  board  the  frigate  Diana  during  an  earth- 
quake at  Simoda  to  the  Russian  port  of  Ayan.  A  sailor 
on  board  was  very  ill,  and  shortly  before  his  death  told 
his  comrades  that  he  would  soon  die,  but  that  he  was 
rather  glad  of  it,  as  they  would  all  be  captured  by  the 
English,  with  whom  Russia  was  then  at  war.  The  re- 
port of  his  prediction  reached  the  captain's  cabin,  but 
all  the  officers  agreed  that  such  an  event  was  next  to 
impossible  ;  a  dense  fog  was  making  the  ship  perfectly 
invisible,  and  no  English  fleet  had  as  yet  appeared  in 
the  Sea  of  Okhotsk,  where  the  Russians  had  neither  ves- 
sels nor  forts  to  tempt  the  British.  The  whole  force  of 
England  in  those  waters  was  at  that  moment  engaged 
in  blockading  the  Russian  fleet  in  the  Bay  of  Castris  in 
the  Gulf  of  Tartary.  Nevertheless  it  so  chanced  that  a 
British  steamer,  the  corvette  Barracouta,  hove  in  sight 
on  the  1st  of  August  and  captured  the  vessel,  making 
the  Russians  prisoners  of  war. 


SECOND   SIGHT. 

A  special  kind  of  divination,  which  has  at  times  been 
evidenced  in  certain  parts  of  Europe,  and  is  not  unknown 
to  our  North-western  Indians.,  consists  in  the  percep- 
tion of  contemporaneous  or  future  events,  during  a  brief 
trance.  Generally  the  seer  looks  with  painfully  raised 
eyelids,  fixedly  into  space,  evidently  utterly  unconscious 
of  all  around  him,  and  engaged  in  watching  a  distant 
occurrence.  A  peculiar  feature  of  this  phenomenon, 


304  MODERN    MAGIC. 

familiar  to  all  readers  as  second  sight,  is  the  exclusion 
of  religious  or  supernatural  matters;  the  visions  are 
always  strictly  limited  to  events  of  daily  life :  deaths 
and  births,  battles  and  skirmishes,  baptisms  and  wed- 
dings. The  actors  in  these  scenes  are  often  personally 
unknown  to  the  seer,  and  the  transactions  are  as  fre- 
quently beheld  in  symbols  as  in  reality.  A  man  who 
is  to  die  a  violent  death,  maybe  seen  with  a  rope  around 
his  neck  or  headless,  with  a  dagger  plunged  into  his 
breast,  or  sinking  into  the  water  up  to  his  neck ;  the 
sick  man  who  is  to  expire  in  his  bed,  will  appear  wrap- 
ped up  in  his  winding  sheet,  in  which  case  his  person 
is  m-  re  or  less  completely  concealed  as  his  death  is 
nearer  or  farther  off.  A  friend  or  a  messenger  coming 
from  a  great  distance,  is  seen  as  a  faint  shadow,  and  a 
murderer  or  a  thief,  as  a  wolf  or  a  fox.  Another  pecu- 
liar feature  of  second  sight  is  the  fact  that  the  same 
visions  are  very  frequently  beheld  by  several  persons, 
although  the  latter  may  live  far  apart  and  have  nothing 
in  common  with  each  other.  The  phenomena  are  spor- 
adic in  Germany  and  Switzerland,  in  the  Dauphine  and 
the  Cevennes;  they  occur  in  larger  numbers  and  are 
often  hereditary  in  certain  families,  in  Denmark,  the 
Scotch  Highlands  and  the  Faroe  Islands.  In  Gaelic,  the 
persons  thus  gifted  are  called  Taishatrim,  seers  of 
shadows,  or  Phissichin,  possessing  knowledge  before- 
hand. Hence,  they  have  been  most  thoroughly  studied 
in  those  countries,  and  Mr.  Martin  has  gathered  all  that 
could  be  learnt  of  second  sight  in  the  Shetlands.  in  a. 


DIVINATION.  305 

work  of  great  interest.  Here  the  phenomena  are  not 
unfrequently  accompanied  by  magic  hearing  also,  as 
when  funerals  are  seen  in  visions,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  chants  of  the  bystanders  and  even  the  words  of  the 
preacher  are  distinctly  heard.  The  most  marked  form 
of  this  feature  is  the  taisk  or  wraith,  a  cry  uttered  by  a 
person  who  is  soon  to  die,  and  heard  by  the  seer.  The 
dwellers  on  those  remote  islands  are  also  in  the  habit  of 
smelling  an  odor  of  fish,  often  weeks  and  months  before 
the  latter  appear  in  their  waters.  A  special  kind  of 
divination  exists  in  Wales  and  on  the  Isle  of  Man,  where 
the  approaching  death  of  friends  is  revealed  by  so-called 
body  lights,  caulawillan  cyrth. 

The  entirely  unselfish  character  of  second  sight 
must  not  be  overlooked,  as  far  as  it  increases  in  a  high 
degree  the  value  of  such  phenomena  and  adds  to  their 
authenticity.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  the  per- 
sons and  events  seen  under  such  circumstances  are  of 
no  interest  to  the  seer;  they  are  frequently  utterly 
strange  and  unknown  to  him,  and  hence  find  no  sym- 
pathy in  his  heart.  It  appears  as  if,  by  some  unknown 
and  hence  magic  process,  a  window  was  opened  for  the 
soul  to  look  out  and  behold  whatever  may  happen  to 
be  presented  to  the  inner  vision ;  this  image  is  then 
transferred  to  the  outer  eye,  and  the  seer's  imagination 
makes  him  believe  that  he  sees  in  reality  what  is 
revealed  to  him  by  this  mysterious  process.  Hence 
also  the  facts  that  the  persons  gifted  with  second 
sight,  so  far  from  laboring  under  diseases  of  any  kind, 


30G  MODKUX    MACIC. 

are  almost  without  exception  simple,  frugal  men,  free 
from  chronic  affections,  and  perfect  strangers  to  hys- 
terics,  spasms,  or  nervous  sufferings.  Insanity  and 
suicide  are  as  unknown  to  them  as  drunkenness,  and 
no  case  of  selfish  interest  or  willful  imposture  has  ever 
been  recorded  in  connection  with  second  sight.  This 
does  not  imply,  however,  that  efforts  have  not  been 
made  by  others  to  profit  by  the  strange  gifts  of  such 
persons ;  but  even  the  career  of  the  famous  Duncan 
Campbell,  a  deaf  and  dumb  Scot,  who,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century,  created  an  immense  sensation  in 
London,  only  proved  anew  the  well-known  disinterest- 
edness of  these  seers.  In  many  instances  the  gift  of 
second  sight  is  treated  with  indifference,  and  hardly 
noticed.  Such  was  the  case  with  Lord  Nelson,  who  is 
reported  to  have  exhibited  the  gift  of  a  kind  of  second 
sight,  at  least  in  two  well-authenticated  cases,  related 
by  Sir  Thomas  Hardy  to  Admiral  Dundas,  and  quoted 
by  Dr.  Mayo,  as  he  had  the  account  from  the  latter. 
Captain  Hardy  heard  Nelson  order  the  commander  of 
a  frigate  to  shake  out  all  sails  to  sail  towards  a  certain 
place  where  he  would  in  all  probability  meet  the  French 
fleet,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  made  it  out,  to  run  into  a 
certain  port  and  there  to  wait  for  Nelson's  arrival. 
When  the  officer  had  left  the  cabin,  Nelson  turned  to 
Hardy,  saying :  "  He  will  go  to  the  West  Indies ;  he 
will  see  the  French ;  he  will  make  the  port  I  told  him 
to  make,  but  he  will  not  wait  for  me — he  will  sail  for 
England."  The  commander  actually  did  so.  In  this 


DIVIXATION.  307 

case,  however,  Xelson  may  possibly  have  only  given  a 
striking  evidence  of  bis  power  to  read  the  character  of 
men,  and  to  draw  bis  conclusions  as  to  their  probable 
action.  In  the  following  instance  his  knowledge  ap- 
peared, on  the  contrary,  as  a  magic  phenomenon.  It 
was  shortly  before  the  battie  of  Trafalgar,  when  an 
English  frigate  was  made  out  at  such  a  distance  that 
her  position  could  not  be  accurately  ascertained.  Sud- 
denly Xelson  turned  to  Hardy,  who  was  standing  by 
his  side,  and  said :  "  The  frigate  has  sighted  the  French." 
Hardy  had  nothing  to  say  in  reply.  "  She  sights  the 
French  ;  she  will  fire  presently.*'  In  an  instant  the 
low  sound  of  a  signal-shot  was  heard  afar  off! 

In  other  cases  the  curious  gift  is  borne  with  great 
impatience,  and  becomes  a  source  of  intense  suffering. 
This  is  certainly  very  pardonable  in  men  who  read  im- 
pending death  in  the  features  of  others,  and  hence  are 
continually  subject  to  near-trending  impressions.  Some- 
times the  moribund  appears  as  if  he  had  been  lying  in 
his  grave  already  for  several  days,  at  other  times  he  is 
seen  wrapped  up  in  his  shroud  or  in  the  act  of  expir- 
ing. In  some  parts  of  Germany  the  approaching  death 
of  a  neighbor  is  announced  by  the  appearance  of  Death 
itself,  not  in  the  familiar  mythological  form,  but  as  a 
white,  luminous  appearance,  which  either  stops  before 
the  house  of  the  person  who  is  to  die  soon,  or  actually 
enters  it  and  places  itself  by  the  side  of  the  latter. 
Occasionally  the  image  is  seen  to  fill  the  seat  or  to  walk 
in  a  procession  in  the  place  of  a  man  as  yet  in  perfect 


308  MODERN    MAGIC. 

health,  who  nevertheless  soon  falls  a  victim  to  some 
disease  or  sudden  attack. 

Second  sight  is,  like  all  similar  magic  phenomena, 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  writings  of  the  ancients. 
Homer  mentions  a  case  in  his  "  Odyssey  "  (xx.  v.  351). 
Apollonius  of  Tyana  was  delivering  an  oration  at 
Ephesus,  when  he  suddenly  stopped  in  the  middle  of  a 
sentence  and  beheld  in  a  vision  the  Emperor  Domitian 
at  Eome,  in  the  act  of  succumbing  to  his  murderers. 
He  fell  into  a  kind  of  trance,  his  eyes  became  fixed,  and 
he  exclaimed  in  an  unnatural  voice :  "  Down  with  the 
tyrant!"  (  Vita  Apoll.  Zenobis  A  nolo  interpret  e.  Parts, 
1555,  1.  viii.  p.  562.)  Henry  IV.,  when  still  Prince  of 
Navarre,  saw  on  the  eve  of  St.  Bartholomew  several 
drops  of  blood  falling  upon  the  green  cloth  of  the  card- 
table  at  which  he  was  seated  in  company  with  several 
courtiers;  the  latter  beheld  the  fearful  and  ominous 
sight  as  well  as  he  himself.  German  writings  abound 
with  instances  of  men  having  seen  their  own  funeral 
several  days  before  their  death,  and  in  many  instances 
the  warning  is  reported  to  have  had  a  most  salutary 
efifect  in  causing  them  to  repent  of  their  sins  and  to 
prepare  for  the  impending  summons.  One  of  the  most 
remarkable  instances  is  that  of  a  distinguished  pro- 
fessor of  divinity,  Dr.  Lysius,  in  Konigsberg.  He  had 
inherited"  special  magic  powers  through  many  genera- 
tions from  an  early  ancestor,  who  saw  a  funeral  of  very 
peculiar  nature,  with  all  the  attending  circumstances, 
long  before  it  actually  took  place.  He  himself  had  his 


DIVINATION.  309 

first  revelation  when,  lying  in  bed  awake,  he  saw  sud- 
denly his  chamber  quite  light,  and  something  like  a 
man's  shadow  pass  him,  while  on  his  mind,  not  on  his 
ear,  fell  the  words :  Umbra  matris  tuce.  Although  his 
mother  had  just  written  to  him  that  she  was  in  un- 
usually good  health  and  spirits,  she  had  died  that  very 
night.  On  another  occasion  he  astonished  his  friends 
by  telling  them  what  a  superb  new  building  he  had 
seen  erected  in  Konigsberg,  giving  all  the  details  of 
church  and  school-room  to  a  little  gate  in  a  narrow  alley. 
Many  years  afterwards  such  a  building  was  really  erected 
there,  and  he  himself  called  to  occupy  part  of  it,  when 
that  little  gate  became  his  favorite  entrance.  Although 
he  had  many  such  visions,  and  his  wife,  succumbing  to 
the  contagious  influence  of  magic  powers,  also  foresaw 
more  than  one  important  event,  he  sternly  refused  to 
attach  any  Aveight  to  his  own  forebodings  or  those  of 
other  persons.  Thus  a  poor  woman,  possessing  the  gift 
of  second  sight,  once  came  to  some  members  of  his 
family  and  told  them  she  had  seen  seven  funerals  leave 
his  house;  when  this  was  reported  to  him,  he  de- 
nounced the  superstition  as  unchristian,  and  forbade 
its  being  mentioned  again  in  his  presence.  But, 
although  there  was  not  a  sick  person  in  the  house  at 
the  time,  and  even  the  older  members  of  the  family 
were  unusually  hale  and  hearty,  in  a  few  weeks  every 
one  in  the  house  was  dangerously  ill,  the  head  of  the 
family  alone  excepted,  and  as  three  only  escaped,  the 
seven  deaths  which  had  been  foreseen  actually  took  place. 


310  MODERN    MAGIC. 

The  annals  of  Swedish  history  (Arudfc,  Scliwed. 
Gesch.  p.  317)  record  a  remarkable  case  of  this  kind. 
The  scene  was  the  old  castle  of  Gripsholm,  near  Stock- 
holm, a  place  full  of  terrible  reminiscences,  and  more 
than  once  made  famous  by  strange  mysteries.  A  great 
state  dinner  given  to  a  prince  of  Baden,  had  just  ended, 
when  one  of  the  guests,  Count  Frolich,  suddenly  gazed 
fixedly  at  the  great  door  of  the  dining-hall,  and  when  he 
regained  his  composure,  declared  he  had  just  seen  their 
princely  guest  walk  in,  wearing  a  different  uniform  from 
that  in  which  he  was  actually  dressed,  as  he  sat  in  the 
place  of  honor.  It  was,  however,  a  custom  of  the  prince's 
to  wear  one  costume  one  day  and  another  the  next  day, 
and  thus  to  change  regularly;  Count  Frolich  bad  seen 
him  in  that  which  he  would  accordingly  wear  the  next 
day.  The  impression  was  beginning  to  wear  away,  and 
the  accident  was  nearly  forgotten,  when  suddenly  a 
great  disturbance  was  heard  without,  servants  came 
running  in,  women  were  heard  crying,  and  even  the  offi- 
cers on  guard  were  seriously  disturbed.  The  report  was 
that  "  King  Eric's  ghost "  had  been  seen.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day  the  Prince  of  Baden  was  thrown  from  bis 
carriage  and  instantly  killed;  his  body  was  brought 
back  to  Gripsholm. 

Here  also  we  meet  again  with  the  exceptional  powers 
granted  to  Goe'the.  He  had  just  parted  with  one  of  his 
many  loves,  the  fair  daughter  of  the  minister  of  Drusen- 
heim,  Friederike,  and  was  riding  in  deep  thought  upon 
the  footpath,  Avhen  he  suddenly  saw,  "  not  with  the 


DIVINATIOX.  311 

eyes  of  the  body,  but  of  the  spirit,"  his  own  self  in  a 
new  light  gray  coat,  laced  with  gold,  riding  towards 
him.  When  he  made  an  eifort  to  shake  oif  the  impres- 
sion, the  vision  disappeared.  "  It  is  strange,  however," 
he  tells  us  himself,  "  that  I  found  myself  eight  years 
later  riding  on  that  same  road,  in  order  to  see  Frieder- 
ike  once  more,  and  was  then  dressed,  by  accident  and 
not  from  choice,  in  the  costume  of  which  I  had  dreamt " 
(Aus  Meinem  Leben,  iii.  p.  84).  A  kindred  spirit,  Sir 
Humphry  Davy,  had  once  a  vision,  which  strangely 
enough  was  fulfilled  more  than  once.  In  his  attractive 
work  ("  Consolations  in  Travel,"  p.  63),  he  relates  how 
he  saw,  when  suffering  of  jail  fever,  the  image  of  a  beau- 
tiful woman,  with  whom  he  soon  entered  into  a  most 
interesting  conversation.  He  was  at  the  time  'warmly 
attached  to  a  lady,  but  the  vision  represented  a  girl 
with  brown  hair,  blue  eyes  and  blooming  complexion, 
while  his  lady-love  was  pale  and  had  dark  eyes  and  dark 
hair.  His  mysterious  visitor  came  frequently,  as  long  as 
he  was  really  sick,  but  as  his  strength  returned,  her 
visits  became  rarer,  and  at  last  ceased  altogether.  He 
forgot  it  entirely ;  but  ten  years  later  he  suddenly  met 
in  Illyria,  a  girl  of  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  years,  who 
strikingly  resembled  the  image  he  had  seen,  and  now 
recalled  in  all  its  details.  Another  ten  years  passed, 
and  the  great  chemist  met  once  more  in  traveling,  a 
person  who  as  strikingly  resembled  his  first  vision,  and 
became  indebted  to  her  tender  care  and  kindness  for  the 
preservation  of  his  life. 


312  MODERN    MAGIC. 

In  some  parts  of  the  world  this  gift  of  second  sight 
assumes  very  peculiar  forms.  In  Africa,  for  instance, 
and  especially  in  the  countries  adjoining  the  Sahara, 
men  and  women  are  found  who  possess  alike  the  power 
of  seeing  coming  events  beforehand.  More  than  once 
European  travelers  have  been  hospitably  received  by 
natives  who  had  been  warned  of  their  coming.  Rich- 
ardson tells  us  in  his  graphic  account  of  his  "Mission 
to  Central  Africa,"  that  his  arrival  had  thus  been  an- 
nounced to  the  chief  and  the  people  of  Tintalus  in  these 
words :  "  A  caravan  of  Englishmen  is  on  the  way  from 
Tripoli,  to  come  to  you."  The  seer  was  an  old  negro- 
woman,  a  reputed  witch,  who  had  a  great  reputation  for 
anticipating  events.  In  the  Isle  of  France — we  learu 
from  James  Prior  in  his  "  Voyage  in  the  Indian  Seas  " — 
there  are  many  men  who  can  see  vessels  at  a  distance  of 
several  hundred  miles.  One  of  them  described  accu- 
rately and  minutely  the  wreck  of  a  ship  on  the  coast 
of  Madagascar,  from  whence  it  was  to  bring  provisions. 
A  woman  expecting  her  lover  on  board  another  ship, 
inquired  of  one  of  these  seers  if  he  could  give  her  any 
comfort :  he  replied  promptly  that  the  vessel  was  only 
three  days'  sail  from  the  island,  and  that  her  friend  was 
then  engaged  in  washing  his  linen.  The  ship  arrived 
at  the  appointed  time,  and  the  man  corroborated  the 
seer's  statement.  The  great  navigator  relates  even 
more  surprising  feats  accomplished  by  the  director  of 
signals,  Faillafe,  who  saw  vessels  distinctly  at  a  distance 
of  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  sea  miles.  Their  image 


DIVINATION.  3 1  3 

Appeared  to  him  on  the  horizon  in  the  shape  of  a  light 
brown  cloud  with  faint  outlines,  but  yet  distinctly 
enough  to  enable  him  to  distinguish  the  size  of  the  ves- 
sel, the  nature  of  its  rigging,  and  the  direction  in 
which  it  was  sailing. 

Second  hearing  seems  to  be  limited  to  the  eastern 
part  of  Scotland,  where  it  occurs  occasionally  in  whole 
families.  Mrs.  Crowe  mentions,  for  instance,  a  man  and 
his  wife  in  Berwickshire,  who  were  both  aroused  at 
night  by  a  loud  cry  "which  they  at  once  recognized  as 
peculiar  to  their  son.  It  appeared  afterwards  that  he 
had  perished  at  sea  in  that  night  and  at  the  same  hour 
when  the  cry  was  heard  (I.  p.  161).  In  another  case 
a  man  in  Perthshire  was  waked  by  his  wife,  who  told 
him  that  no  doubt  their  son  had  been  drowned,  for  she 
hud  distinctly  heard  the  splash  as  he  fell  into  the  water, 
and  had  been  aroused  by  the  noise.  Here  also  the  fore- 
boding proved  true  :  the  man  had  fallen  from  the  yard- 
arm,  and  disappeared  before  a  boat  could  be  lowered, 
although  his  fall  had  been  heard  by  all  aboard. 

It  must  finally  be  mentioned  that  second  sight  has 
been  noticed  not  in  men  only,  but  even  in  animals. 
Horses  especially  seem  to  be  extremely  sensitive  to  all 
magic  influences,  and  accounts  of  their  peculiar  conduct 
under  trying  circumstances  are  both  numerous  and 
perfectly  well  authenticated.  Thus  a  minister  in  Lind- 
holm,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hansen,  owned  a  perfectly  gentle 
and  good-natured  horse,  which  all  of  a  sudden  refused 

to  stand  still  in  his  stable,  began  to  tremble  and  give 

14 


3]  4  MODERN   MAGIC. 

all  signs  of  great  fear,  and  finally  kicked  and  reared  so 
wildly  that  be  had  to  be  removed.  As  soon  as  he  was 
placed  in  another  stable  he  calmed  down  and  became 
perfectly  quiet.  It  was  at  last  discovered  that  a  person 
endowed  with  second  sight  had  ascribed  the  strange  be- 
havior of  the  horse  to  the  fact  that  a  coffin  was  being 
made  before  his  open  stable,  and  that  the  horse  could 
not  bear  the  sight.  The  man  was  laughed  at,  but  not 
long  after  the  minister's  wife  died,  and  for  some  special 
reasons  the  coffin  was  actually  made  in  full  view  of  the 
former  stable  of  the  horse  (Kies.  Arch.  viii.  p.  111). 
Dogs  also  have  been  reported  in  almost  innumerable 
cases  to  have  set  up  a  most  painful  howling  before  the 
approaching  death  of  inmates  of  a  house  where  they 
were  kept. 

In  England  and  in  Germany  especially,  they  are  con- 
sidered capable  of  seeing  supernatural  beings.  When 
they  are  seen  to  cower  down  of  a  sudden,  and  to  press 
close  to  the  feet  of  their  masters,  trembling  often  in  all 
their  limbs,  and  looking  up  most  piteously,  as  if  for 
help,  popular  belief  says :  "  All  is  not  right  with  the 
dog,"  or  "  He  sees  more  than  men  can  see."  The  memory 
of  Balaam's  ass  rises  instinctively  in  our  mind,  and  we 
feel  that  this  part  of  creation,  which  groaneth  with  us 
for  salvation,  and  which  was  included  among  those  for 
whose  sake  the  Lord  spared  Nineveh,  may  see  what  is 
concealed  from  our  eyes.  Samuel  Wesley  tells  us  ex- 
pressly how  a  dog,  specially  bought  for  the  purpose  of 
frightening  away  the  evil-disposed  men  who  were  at 


DIVINATION.  315 

first  suspected  of  causing  the  nightly  disturbances  at  the 
parsonage,  barked  but  once  the  first  night,  and  after 
that  exhibited,  upon  the  recurrence  of  those  noises,  quite 
as  much  terror  as  the  children. 

!N~or  are  dogs  and  horses  the  only  animals  considered 
capable  of  perceiving  by  a  special  instinct  of  their  own 
the  working  of  supernatural  agencies.  During  a  series 
of  mysterious  disturbances  in  a  German  village,  the 
chickens  fled  in  terror  from  the  garden,  and  the  cattle 
refused  to  enter  the  enclosure,  when  the  appearances 
were  seen.  Swiss  herdsmen  have  a  number  of  stories 
concerning  "  feyed"  places  in  the  Alps,  to  which  neither 
caress  nor  compulsion  can  induce  their  herds  to  go,  even 
when  pasture  is  rare  everywhere  else,  and  rich  grass 
seems  to  tempt  them  to  come  to  the  abhorred  meadows. 
Storks  have  been  known  to  have  abandoned  the  roof- 
tree  on  which  for  years  they  had  built  their  nest,  and 
in  every  case  the  forsaken  house  was  burnt  during  the 
summer.  This  and  other  peculiarities  of  sagacious  ani- 
mals have  been  especially  noticed  in  Denmark,  where 
all  animals  are  called  synsk,  seers,  when  they  are  be- 
lieved to  possess  the  gift  of  second  sight. 

ORACLES   AND   PROPHECIES. 

The  highest  degree  of  divination  is  the  actual  fore- 
telling of  events  which  are  yet  to  happen.  The  imme- 
diate causes  which  awaken  the  gift  are  of  the  most 
varied  character,  and  often  very  curious.  Thus  a  young 
Florentine,  Gasparo,  who  had  been  wounded  by  an 


316  MODERN    MAGIC. 

arrow,  and  could  not  be  relieved,  began  in  his  fearful 
suffering  to  pray  incessantly,  day  and  night;  this  ex- 
cited him  to  such  a  degree  that  he  finally  foretold  not 
only  the  name  of  his  visitors,  but  also  the  hour  at 
which  they  would  come,  and  finally  the  day  of  his  com- 
plete recovery ;  he  also  knew,  by  the  same  instinct, 
that  later  in  life  he  would  go  to  Rome  and  die  there. 
When  the  iron  point  was  at  last  removed  from  his 
wound,  his  health  began  to  improve,  and  at  once  his 
prophetic  gift  left  him  and  never  returned.  He  went, 
however,  to  Eome,  and  really  died  in  the  Eternal  City 
(Colquhoun,  p.  333).  The  priests  of  Apollo,  at  Co- 
lophon, intoxicated  themselves  with  the  water  of  his 
fountain,  which  was  as  famous  for  bestowing  the  gift 
of  prophecy  as  /Esculapius'  well  at  Pergamus  and  the 
springs  near  his  temple  at  Pellena.  In  other  temples 
vapors  were  inhaled  by  the  prophetic  priests.  In  the 
prophet-schools  of  the  Israelites  music  seems  to  have 
played  a  prominent  part,  for  Samuel  told  Saul  he  would 
meet  at  the  hill  of  Gad  "  a  company  of  prophets  coming 
down  from  the  high  place  with  a  psaltery  and  a  tabret 
and  a  pipe  before  them."  The  Jews  possessed,  how- 
ever, also  other  means  to  aid  in  divining:  Joseph  had 
his  cup,  a  custom  still  prevalent  in  the  East ;  and  the 
High  Priest,  before  entering  into  the  Holiest,  put  on 
the  Thummim  with  its  six  dark  jewels  and  the  Urim 
with  its  six  light-colored  jewels,  whereupon  the  bril- 
liant sparkling  of  the  precious  stones  and  the  rich 
fumes  of  incense  combined  with  the  awful  sense  of  the 


DIVINATION.  317 

presence  of  Jehovah  in  predisposing  his  mind  to  receive 
revelations  from  on  high.  The  false  prophets  of  Baal, 
on  the  contrary,  tried  to  produce  like  effects  by  bloody 
means:  "They  cut  themselves  with  knives  and  lancets 
till  the  blood  gushed  out  upon  them,"  and  then  they 
prophesied.  It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  in 
India  the  glance  was  fixed  upon  the  navel,  until  the 
divine  light  began  to  shine  before  the  mind's  eye — in 
other  words,  until  a  trance  is  induced,  and  visions  begin 
to  appear.  The  changes  which  immediately  precede 
dissolution  seem,  finally,  to  be  most  favorable  to  a 
development  of  prophetic  powers.  Already  Aretaeus, 
the  Cappadocian,  said  that  the  mind  of  many  dying 
persons  was  perfectly  clear,  penetrating  and  prophetic, 
and  mentions  a  number  of  cases  in  which  the  dying 
had  begun  to  converse  with  the  dead,  or  foretold  the 
fate  of  those  who  stood  by  their  bedside.  Thus  Homer 
also  makes  dying  Hector  warn  Achilles  of  his  approach- 
ing end,  and  Calanus,  when  in  the  act  of  ascending  the 
funeral  pile,  replies  to  Alexander's  question  if  he  had 
any  request  to  make  :  "  No,  I  have  nothing  to  ask,  for 
I  shall  see  you  the  day  after  to-morrow!"  And  on 
that  day  the  young  conqueror  died. 

Suetonius  reports  that  the  Emperor  Augustus  was 
passing  away  almost  imperceptibly,  when  he  suddenly 
shuddered  and  said  that  forty  youths  were  carrying 
him  off.  It  so  happened  that  when  the  end  came,  forty 
men  of  his  body-guard  were  ordered  to  raise  and  con- 
vey the  body  to  another  room  in  the  palace.  There 


318  MODERN    MAGIC. 

are  a  few  cases  known  in  which  apparently  dying  per- 
sons, after  delivering  such  prophecies,  have  recovered 
and  retained  the  exceptional  gift  during  the  remainder 
of  their  lives,  but  these  instances  are  rare  and  require 
confirmation. 

As  all  magic  phenomena  are  liable  to  be  mixed  up 
with  delusion  and  imposture,  so  divination  of  this  kind 
also  has  been  frequently  imitated  for  personal  or  po- 
litical purposes.  The  ancient  oracles  already  gave 
frequently  answers  full  of  irony  and  sly  humor.  The 
story  of  King  Alexander  of  Epirus  is  well  known,  who 
was  warned  by  the  oracle  at  Dodona  to  keep  away  from 
the  Acherusian  waters,  and  then  perished  in  the  river 
Acheros,  in  Italy.  Thus  Henry  IV.  of  England  had 
been  told  that  he  would  die  at  Jerusalem ;  he  thought 
only  of  Palestine,  but  met  his  death  unconsciously  in  a 
room  belonging  to  the  Abbey  of  Westminster,  which 
bore  the  name  of  the  holy  city.  In  Spain,  Ferdinand 
the  Catholic  received  warning  that  he  would  die  at 
Madrigal,  and  hence  carefully  avoided  the  city  of  that 
name ;  but  when  his  last  illness  overtook  him  at  an 
obscure  little  town,  he  found  that  it  was  called  Madri- 
gaola,  or  Little  Madrigal.  The  historian  Mariana 
(Hist,  de  rebus  Hisp.,  1.  xxii.  chap.  66)  also  mentions  the 
despair  of  the  famous  favorite  Don  Alvarez  de  Luna, 
whom  an  astrologer  had  warned  against  Cudahalso,  a 
village  near  Toledo ;  the  unfortunate  man  died  on  the 
scaffold  which  is  also  called  cadahalso.  In  France  it 
was  the  fate  of  the  superstitious  queen,  Catherine  de 


DIVINATION.  319 

Medici,  to  experience  a  similar  mortification :  the 
famous  Nostradamus  had  predicted  that  she  would  die 
in  St.  Germain,  and  she  carefully  avoided  that  palace ; 
but  when  her  last  end  came,  she  found  herself  sinking 
helpless  into  the  arms  of  a  courtier  called  St.  Ger- 
main. 

Nor  is  there  any  want  of  false  prophecies  from  the 
time  when  Jeremiah  complained  that  "  a  wonderful  and 
horrible  thing  is  committed  in  the  land ;  the  people 
prophesy  falsely  "  (Jer.  v.  30),  to  the  great  money  crisis 
in  1857,  which  filled  the  land  with  predictions  of  the 
approaching  end.  Periods  of  great  political  or  reli- 
gious excitement  invariably  produce  a  few  genuine  and 
a  host  of  spurious  prophets,  which  represent  the  sad 
forebodings  filling  the  mind  of  a  distressed  nation  and 
avail  themselves  of  the  credulity  of  all  great  sufferers. 
Some  of  the  most  absurd  prophecies  have  nevertheless 
caused  a  perfect  panic,  extending  in  some  cases  through- 
out whole  countries.  Thus  in  1578  a  famous  astrolo- 
ger, the  father  of  all  weather  prophecies  in  our  alma- 
nacs, predicted  that  in  the  month  of  February,  1524, 
when  three  planets  should  enter  at  once  the  constellation 
of  the  fishes,  a  second  deluge  would  destroy  the  earth. 
The  report  reached  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  who  sub- 
mitted the  matter  to  his  Spanish  theologians  and  as- 
trologers. They  investigated  it  with  solemn  gravity 
and  found  it  very  formidable;  from  Spain  the  panic 
spread  through  the  whole  of  Europe.  When  February 
came  thousands  left  their  houses  and  sought  refuge  on 


320  MODERN    MAGIC. 

mountain  and  hill-top ;  others  hoped  to  escape  on  board 
ships,  and  a  rich  president  at  Toulouse  actually  built 
himself  a  second  ark.  When  the  deluge  did  not  take 
place,  divines  and  diviners  were  by  no  means  abashed ; 
they  declared  that  God  had  this  time  also  taken  pity 
upon  sinful  men  in  consideration  of  the  fervent  prayer 
of  the  faithful,  as  he  had  done  before  in  the  case  of 
Nineveh.  The  fear  of  the  last  judgment  has  at  all 
times  so  filled  the  minds  of  men  as  to  make  them  readi- 
ly believe  a  prediction  of  the  approaching  end  of  the 
world,  an  event  which,  it  is  well  known,  the  apostles, 
Martin  Luther,  and  certain  modern  divines,  have  per- 
sistently thought  immediately  impending.  Sects  have 
arisen  at  various  epochs  who  have  looked  forward  to  the 
second  Advent  with  a  sincerity  of  conviction  of  which 
they  gave  striking  and  even  most  fearful  evidence.  The 
Millerites  of  the  Union  have  more  than  once  predicted 
the  coming  of  Christ,  and  in  anticipation  of  the  near 
Advent,  disposed  of  their  property,  assumed  the  white 
robes  in  which  they  were  to  ascend  to  heaven,  and  even 
mounted  into  the  topmost  branches  of  trees  to  shorten 
the  journey.  In  Switzerland  a  young  woman  of  Berne 
became  so  excited  by  the  coming  of  judgment,  which 
she  fixed  upon  the  next  Easter  day,  that  she  prophesied 
daily,  gathered  a  number  of  followers  around  her,  .and 
actually  had  her  own  grandfather  strangled  in  order  to 
save  his  soul  before  the  approaching  Advent.  (Stilling, 
"Janserits,"p.  117.) 

Xot  UH frequently  proph?cies  are  apparently  delivered 


DIVINATION.  321 

by  intermediate  agents,  angels,  demons  or  peculiarly 
marked  persons.  It  was  no  doubt  an  effect  of  the  deep 
and  continued  excitement  felt  by  Caius  Cassius,  that 
his  mind  was  filled  with  the  image  of  murdered  Caesar, 
and  hence  he  could  very  easily  fancy  he  saw  his  victim 
in  his  purple  cloak,  horse  and  rider  of  gigantic  propor- 
tions, suddenly  appear  in  the  din  of  the  battle  at  Phi- 
lippi,  riding  down  upon  him  with  wild  passion.  It  is 
well  known  that  the  impression  was  strong  enough  to 
make  him,  who  had  never  yet  turned  his  back  upon  the 
enemy,  seek  safety  in  flight,  and  cry  out:  "  "What  more 
do  you  want  if  murder  does  not  finish  you?"  (Va- 
ler.  Max.  I.  8. ) 

It  must  lastly  be  borne  in  mind,  that  prophecies  hare 
not  remained  as  sterile  as  other  magical  phenomena. 
Already  Herder  mentions  the  ad  vantages  of  ancient  ora- 
cles. He  says  (Idc.cn  zur  Phil.  d.  Geschiclite,  iii.  p.  211) : 
"  Many  a  tyrant  and  criminal  was  publicly  marked  by 
the  divine  voice  (of  oracles),  when  it  foretold  their  fate; 
in  like  manner  it  has  saved  many  an  innocent  person, 
given  good  advice  to  the  helpless,  lent  divine  authority 
to  noble  institutions,  made  known  works  of  art,  and 
sanctioned  great  moral  truths  as  well  as  wholesome 
maxims  of  state  policy.''  It  need  hardly  be  added  that 
the  prophets  of  Israel  were  the  main  upholders  of  the 
religious  life  as  well  as  of  the  morality  of  the  chosen 
people ;  while  the  priests  remained  stationary  in  their 
views,  and  contented  themselves  with  performing  the 
ceremonial  service  of  the  temple,  the  prophets  preserved 


322  MODERN   MAGIC. 

the  true  faith,  and  furthered  its  gradually  widening  rev- 
elation. In  their  case,  however,  divination  was  so 
clearly  the  result  of  divine  inspiration,  that  their  proph- 
ecies can  hardly  be  classed  among  magic  phenomena. 
The  ground  which  they  have  in  common  with  merely 
human  forebodings  and  divinings,  is  the  state  of  trance 
in  which  alone  prophets  seem  to  have  foretold  the 
future,  whether  we  believe  this  ecstatic  condition  to 
have  been  caused  by  music,  long-protracted  prayer  or 
the  direct  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

This  ecstasy  was  in  the  case  of  almost  all  the  oracles 
of  antiquity  brought  on  by  inhaling  certain  gases  which 
rose  from  the  soil  and  produced  often  most  fearful  symp- 
toms in  the  unfortunate  persons  employed  for  the  pur- 
pose. At  the  same  time  they  were  rarely  free  from  an 
addition  of  artifice,  as  the  priests  not  only  filled  the 
mind  of  the  pythoness  beforehand  with  thoughts  sug- 
gested by  their  own  wisdom  and  political  experience, 
but  the  latter  also  frequently  employed  her  skill  as  a 
ventriloquist,  in  order  to  increase  the  force  of  her  rev- 
elations. Hence  the  fact,  that  almost  all  the  Greek  ora- 
cles proceeded  from  deep  caves,  in  which,  as  at  Dodona 
and  Delphi,  carbonic  gas  was  developed  in  abundance; 
hence,  also,  the  name  of  ventriloqua  rates,  which  was 
commonly  given  to  the  Delphi  Pythia.  The  oldest  of 
these  oracles,  that  at  Dodona,  foretold  events  for  nearly 
two  thousand  years,  and  even  survived  the  almost  uni- 
versal destruction  of  such  institutions  at  the  time  of 
Christ;  it  did  not  actually  cease  till  the  third  century, 


DIVINATIOX.  323 

when  an  Illyriau  robber  cut  down  the  sacred  tree.  The 
oracle  of  Zeus  Trophonins  in  Boaotia  spoke  through 
the  patients  who  were  brought  to  the  caves,  where  they 
became  somnambulists,  had  visions  and  answered  the 
questions  of  the  priests  while  they  were  in  this  condi- 
tion. The  Romans  also  had  their  somnambulist  proph- 
ets from  the  earliest  days,  and  whenever  the  state  was 
in  danger,  the  Sibylline  books  were  consulted.  Chris- 
tianity made  an  end  to  all  such  divination  in  Italy  as  in 
Greece.  It  is  strange  that  the  vast  scheme  of  Egyptian 
superstition  shows  us  no  oracles  whatever;  but  among 
the  Germans  prophets  were  all  the  more  numerous. 
They  foretold  war  or  peace,  success  or  failure,  and  ex- 
ercised a  powerful  influence  on  all  affairs.  One  of  the 
older  prophetesses,  Veleda,  who  lived  in  an  isolated 
tower,  and  allowed  herself  to  be  but  rarely  consulted, 
was  held  in  high  esteem  even  by  the  Romans.  The 
Celts  had  in  like  manner  prophet-Druids,  some  of  whom 
became  well  known  to  the  Romans,  and  are  reported  to 
have  foretold  the  fate  of  the  emperors  Aurelian,  Dio- 
cletian and  Severus. 

We  have  the  authority  of  Josephus  for  the  continu- 
ance of  prophetic  power  in  Israel  even  after  the  coming 
of  Christ.  He  tells  us  of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Ananus, 
who  ran  for  seven  years  and  five  months  through  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem,  proclaiming  the  coming  ruin,  and, 
while  crying  out  "  Woe  is  me ! "  was  struck  and 
instantly  killed  by  a  stone  from  one  of  the  siege  engines 
of  the  Romans.  (Jos.,  1.  vi.  c.  31.)  Josephus  himself 


324  MODERN    MAGIC. 

passes  for  a  prophet,  having  predicted  the  fall  of  the 
city  of  Jotapata  forty-seven  days  in  advance,  his  own 
captivity,  and  the  imperial  dignity  of  Vespasian  as  well 
as  of  Titus.  Of  northern  prophets,  Merlin  is  probably 
the  most  widely  known  ;  he  was  a  Celtic  bard,  called 
Myrdhin,  and  his  poems,  written  in  the  seventh  century, 
were  looked  upon  as  accurate  descriptions  of  many 
subsequent  events,  such  as  the  exploits  of  Joan  of  Arc. 
In  the  sixteenth  century  Nostradamus  took  his  place, 
whose  prophetic  verses,  Vraies  Centuries  et  Prophcties, 
are  to  this  day  current  among  the  people,  and  now  and 
then  reappear  in  leading  journals.  He  had  been  a  pro- 
fessor of  medicine  in  the  University  of  Montpellier,  and 
died  in  1566,  enjoying  a  world-wide  reputation  as  an 
astrologer.  His  brief  and  often  enigmatical  verses  have 
never  lost  their  hold  on  credulous  minds,  and  a  few 
striking  instances  have,  even  in  our  century,  largely 
revived  his  credit.  Such  was,  for  instance,  the  stanza 
(No.  10) : 

TJn  empereur  naitre  pres  d'ltalie, 
Qui  d  Vempire  sera  vendu  tres  cher; 
Dirbnt  avec  quels  gens  il  se  rallie, 
Qu'on  trouvera  moins  prince  que  boucher, 

which  was  naturally  applied  to  the  great  Napoleon  and 
his  marshals. 

Another  northern  prophet,  whose  predictions  are 
still  quoted,  was  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  Malachias, 
who,  in  1130,  foretold  the  fate  of  all  coming  popes;  as 
in  almost  all  similar  cases,  here  also  the  accidental 


DIVIXATION.  325 

coincidences  have  been  carefully  noted  and  pompously 
proclaimed,  while  the  many  unfulfilled  prophecies  have 
been  as  studiously  concealed.  It  is  curious,  however, 
that  he  distinctly  predicted  the  fate  of  Pius  VI.,  whom 
he  spoke  of  as  "  Vir  apostolicus  moriens  in  exilo "  (he 
died,  1799,  an  exile,  in  Valence),  and  that  he  character- 
ized Pius  IX.  as  "Crux  de  Cruce."  St.  Bridget  of 
Sweden  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  her  prophecies 
approved  of  by  the  Council  of  Basle  ;  they  were  trans- 
lated subsequently  into  almost  every  living  language, 
and  are  still  held  in  high  esteem  by  thousands  in  every 
part  of  Europe.  The  most  prominent  name  among 
English  prophets  is  probably  that  of  Archbishop  Usher, 
who  predicted  Cromwell's  fate,  and  many  events  in 
England  and  Ireland,  the  result,  no  doubt,  of  great 
sagacity  and  a  remarkable  power  of  combination,  but 
exceeding  in  many  instances  the  ordinary  measure  of 
human  wisdom.  An  entirely  diiferent  prophet  was 
Eice  Evans  ( Jortin,  "  Eem.  on  Eccles.  Hist.,"  p.  377), 
who,  fixing  his  eye  upon  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  saw 
there  images  of  Lord  Fairfax,  Cromwell,  and  four  other 
crowned  heads  appearing  one  after  another ;  thus,  it  is 
said,  he  predicted  the  Protectorate  and  the  reign  of  the 
four  sovereigns  of  the  house  of  Stuart.  Jane  Leade,  a 
most  extraordinary  and  mysterious  person,  founded  in 
1697,  when  she  had  reached  the  age  of  seventy-four,  her 
so-called  Philadelphian  Society,  a  prominent  member 
of  which  was  the  famous  Pordage,  formerly  a  minister 
and  then  a  physician.  This  very  vain  woman  main- 


326  MODERN    MAGIC. 

tained  that  she  was  inspired  in  the  same  manner  as 
St.  John  in  Patmos,  and  that  she  was  compelled  by  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  foretell  the  future.  In 
spite  of  her  erroneous  announcement  of  the  near  Mil- 
lennium, she  foretold  many  minor  events  with  great 
accuracy,  and  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  prophet.  Dr. 
Pordage  had  mainly  visions  of  the  future  world,  which 
were  all  characterized  by  a  great  purity  of  heart  and 
wilclness  of  imagination,  Swedenborg  also  had  many 
prophetic  visions,  but  their  fulfillment  belongs  ex- 
clusively to  future  life,  and  their  genuineness,  firmly 
believed  by  the  numerous  and  enlightened  members  of 
the  New  Church,  cannot  be  proved  to  others  in  this 
world. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of  modern  prophe- 
sying which  has  been  officially  recorded,  is  connected 
with  the  death  of  Pope  Ganganelli.  The  latter  heard 
that  a  number  of  persons  in  various  parts  of  Italy  had 
predicted  that  he  would  soon  end  his  life  by  a  violent 
death.  He  attached  sufficient  importance  to  these 
reports  to  hand  the  matter  over  to  a  special  commission 
previously  appointed  to  examine  grave  charges  which 
had  been  brought  against  the  Jesuits,  perhaps  suspect- 
ing that  the  Order  of  Jesus  was  not  unconnected  with 
those  predictions.  Among  the  persons  who  were  there- 
upon arrested  was  a  simple,  ignorant  peasant-girl, 
Beatrice  Rensi,  who  told  the  gendarme  very  calmly : 
"  Ganganelli  has  me  arrested,  Braschi  will  set  me  free," 
ini] dying  that  the  latter  would  be  the  next  pope.  The 


DIVINATION.  327 

priest  at  Yalentano,  who  was  arrested  on  the  same  day 
(12th  of  May,  1774),  exclaimed  quite  joyously:  "What 
happens  to  me  now  has  been  predicted  three  times 
already;  take  these  papers  and  see  what  my  daughter 
(the  Eensi)  has  foretold."  Upon  examination  it  ap- 
pears that  the  girl  had  fixed  the  pope's  day  upon  the 
day  of  equinoxes,  in  the  month  of  September ;  she  an- 
nounced that  he  would  proclaim  a  year  of  absolution, 
but  not  live  to  see  it ;  that  none  of  the  faithful  would 
kiss  his  foot,  nor  would  they  take  him,  as  usual,  to  the 
Church  of  St.  Peter.  At  the  same  time  she  spoke  of  a 
fierce  inward  struggle  through  which  the  Holy  Father 
would  have  to  pass  before  his  death.  Soon  after  these 
predictions  were  made  officially  known  to  the  pope,  the 
bull  against  the  order  of  Jesuits  was  laid  before  him  ; 
the  immense  importance  of  such  a  decree,  and  the 
evident  dangers  with  which  it  was  fraught,  caused  him 
great  concern,  and  when  he  one  night  rose  from  his 
bed  to  affix  his  signature,  and,  frightened  by  some  con- 
siderati6ns,  threw  away  the  pen  only  to  take  it  up  at 
lu.-t  and  sign  the  paper,  he  suddenly  recalled  the  pro- 
phecy of  the  peasant-girl.  He  drove  at  once  to  a  great 
prelate  in  Rome,  who  had  formerly  been  the  girl's  con- 
fessor, and  inquired  of  him  about  her  character ;  the 
priest  testified  to  her  purity,  her  unimpeached  honesty, 
and  her  simplicity,  adding  that  in  his  opinion  she  was 
evidently  favored  by  heaven  with  special  and  very  ex- 
traordinary powers.  Ganganelli  was  made  furious  by 
this  suggestion,  and  insisted  upon  it  that  his  commis- 


328  MODERN   MAGIC. 

sion  should  declare  all  these  predictions  wicked  lies,  the 
inspirations  of  the  Devil,  and  condemn  the  sixty-two 
persons  who  had  been  arrested  to  pay  the  extreme  pen- 
alty in  the  Castle  of  St.  Angelo  on  the  1st  of  October. 
In  the  meantime,  however,  his  health  began  to  suffer, 
and  his  mind  was  more  and  more  deeply  affected. 
Beatrice  Eensi  had  been  imprisoned  in  a  convent  at 
Montefiascane ;  on  the  22d  of  September  she  told  the 
prioress  that  prayers  might  be  held  for  the  soul  of  the 
Holy  Father;  the  latter  informed  the  bishop  of  the 
place,  and  soon  the  whole  town  was  in  an  uproar.  Late 
in  the  afternoon  couriers  brought  the  news  that  Gan- 
ganelli  had  suddenly  died  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing; the  body  began  to  putrefy  so  promptly  that  the 
usual  ceremonies  of  kissing  the  pope's  feet  and  the 
transfer  to  St.  Peter's  became  impossible !  The  most 
curious  effects  of  the  girl's  predictions  appeared,,  how- 
ever, when  the  Conclave  was  held  to  elect  a  successor. 
Many  Cardinals  were  extremely  anxious  that  Braschi 
should  not  be  elected,  lest  this  should  be  interpreted  as 
a  confirmation  of  the  prediction,  and  hence  as  the  work 
of  the  Evil  One ;  others  again  looked  upon  the  girl's 
words  as  an  indication  from  on  high  ;  they  carried  the 
day.  Braschi  was  really  chosen,  and  ascended  the 
throne  as  Pius  VI.  The  commission,  however,  con- 
tinued the  work  of  investigation,  and  finally  acquitted 
the  Jesuits  of  the  charge  of  collusion  ;  Beatrice  Reusi's 
predictions  were  declared  to  be  supernatural,  but  sug- 
gested by  the  Father  of  Lies,  the  accused  were  all  set 


DIVINATION.  329 

free.  The  Bishop  of  Montefiascoiie,  Maury,  reported 
officially  in  1804  that  the  girl  had  received  a  pension 
from  Rome  until  the  French  invasion,  then  she  left  the 
convent  in  which  she  had  peacefully  and  quietly  lived 
so  long,  and  was  not  heard  of  again. 

The  famous  predictions  of  Jacques  Cazotte,  a  man  of 
high  literary  renown  and  the  greatest  respectability, 
were  witnessed  by  persons  of  unimpeachable  character 
and  have  been  repeatedly  mentioned  as  authentic  by  em- 
inent writers.  Laharpe — not  the  tutor  of  the  Eussian 
Emperor  Alexander — reports  them  fully  in  his  (Euvres 
cTioisies,  etc.  (i.  p.  62) ;  so  do  Boulard,  in  his  Encycl.  des 
gens  du  Monde,  and  William  Burt,  who  was  present 
when  they  were  made,  in  his  "  Observations  on  the  Cu- 
riosities of  Nature."  It  is  well  known  that  Cazotte  had 
joined  the  sect  of  Martinists,  and  among  these  enthusi- 
asts increased  his  natural  sensitiveness  and  his  religious 
fervor.  With  a  mind  thus  predisposed  to  receive  strong 
impressions  from  outside,  and  filled  with  fearful  appre- 
hensions of  the  future,  it  was  no  wonder  that  he  should 
fall  suddenly  into  a  trance  and  thus  be  enabled  by  ex- 
traordinary magical  influences  to  predict  the  horrors  of 
the  Revolution,  the  sad  fate  of  the  king  and  the  queen, 
and  his  own  tragic  end. 

The  report  -of  his  predictions  as  made  by  Jean  de  La- 
harpe, who  only  died  in  1823,  and  with  his  well-estab- 
lished character  and  high  social  standing  vouched  for 
the  genuineness  of  his  experience,  is  substantially  as 
follows:  He  had  been  invited,  in  1788,  to  meet  at  the 


330  MODERN    MAGIC. 

palace  of  the  Duchess  de  Gramont  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  personages  of  the  day,  and  found  himself 
seated  by  the  side  of  Malesherbes.  He  noticed  at  a  cor- 
ner of  the  table  Cazotte,  apparently  in  a  deep  fit  of 
musing,  from  which  he  was  only  roused  by  the  frequent 
toasts,  in  which  he  was  forced  to  join.  "When  at  last  the 
guests  seemed  to  be  OTerflowing  with  fervent  praises  of 
modern  philosophy  and  its  brilliant  victory  over  old  re- 
ligious superstitions,  Cazotte  suddenly  rose  and  in  a 
solemn  tone  of  voice  and  with  features  agitated  with 
deep  emotion  said  to  them :  "  Gentlemen,  you  may  rejoice, 
for  you  will  all  see  that  great  and  imposing  revolution, 
which  you  so  much  desire.  You,  M.  Condorcet,  will 
expire  lying  on  the  floor  of  a  subterranean  prison. 
You,  M.  N.,  will  die  of  poison ;  you,  M.  N.,  will  perish 
by  the  executioner's  hand  on  the  scaffold."  They  cried 
out:  "Who  on  earth  has  made  you  think  of  prisons, 
poison,  and  the  executioner?  What  have  these  things 
to  do  with  philosophy  and  the  reign  of  reason,  which 
we  anticipate  and  on  which  you  but  just  now  congratu- 
lated us  ?  "  "  That  is  exactly  what  I  say,"  replied  Ca- 
zotte, "  in  the  name  of  philosophy,  of  reason,  of  human- 
ity, and  of  freedom,  all  these  things  will  be  done,  which 
.  I  have  foretold,  and  they  will  happen  precisely  when 
reason  alone  will  reign  and  have  its  temples."  "  Cer- 
tainly," replied  Chamfort,  "you  will  not  be  one  of  the 
priests."  "Not  I,"  answered  the  latter,  "but  you,  M. 
de  Chamfort,  will  be  one  of  them  and  deserve  to 
be  one ;  you  will  cut  your  veins  in  twenty-two  places 


DIVINATION.  331 

with  your  razor,  and  yet  die  only  several  months  after 
that  desperate  operation.  You,  M.  Vicque  d'Azyr, 
will  not  open  your  veins,  because  the  gout  in  your  hands 
will  prevent  it,  hut  you  will  get  another  person  to  open 
them  six  times  for  you  the  same  day,  and  you  will 
die  in  the  night  succeeding.  You,  M.  Nicolai,  will 
die  on  the  scaffold,  and  you,  M.  Bailly,  and  you, 
M.  Malesherbes."  "  God  be  thanked,"  exclaimed  M. 
Eicher,  "it seems  M.  Gazette  only  deals  with  members  of 
the  Academy."  But  Gazette  replied  instantly :  "  You  also, 
M.  Eicher,  will  die  on  the  scaffold,  and  they  who  sen- 
tence you,  and  others  like  you,  will  be  nevertheless 
philosophers."  "  And  when  is  all  this  going  to  happen  ?  " 
asked  several  guests.  "  "Within  at  most  six  years  from 
to-day,"  was  the  reply.  Laharpe  now  asked :  "  And 
about  me  you  say  nothing,  Cazotte  ?  "  The  latter  re- 
plied :  "  In  you,  sir,  a  great  miracle  will  be  done  ;  you 
will  be  converted  and  become  a  good  Christian."  These 
words  relieved  the  company,  and  all  broke  out  into 
merry  laughter.  Now  the  Duchess  of  Gramont  also 
took  courage,  and  said:  ""We  women  are  fortunately 
better  off  than  men,  revolutions  do  not  mind  us." 
"  Your  sex,  ladies,"  answered  Cazotte,  "  will  not  protect 
you  this  time,  and  however  careful  you  may  be  not  to  be 
mixed  up  with  politics,  you  will  be  treated  exactly  like 
the  men.  You  also,  Duchess,  with  many  ladies  before 
and  after  you,  will  have  to  mount  the  scaffold,  and  more 
than  that,  they  will  carry  you  there  on  the  hangman's 
cart,  with  your  hands  bound  behind  your  back."  The 


332  MODERN    MAGIC. 

duchess,  perhaps  looking  upon  the  whole  as  a  jest,  said, 
smiling:  "Well,  I  think  I  shall  at  least  have  a  coach 
lined  with  black."  "No,  no,"  replied  Cazotte,  "the 
hangman's  cart  will  be  your  last  carriage,  and  even 
greater  ladies  than  you  will  have  to  ride  in  it."  "  Surely 
not  princesses  of  the  royal  blood  ?  "  asked  the  duchess. 
"  Still  greater  ones,"  answered  Cazotte.  "  But  they  will 
not  deny  us  a  confessor ?"  she  continued.  "Yes,"  re- 
plied the  other,  "only  the  greatest  of  all  who  will  be 
executed  will  have  one."  "But  what  will  become  of 
you,  M.  Cazotte  ?  "  asked  the  guests,  who  began  at  last 
to  feel  thoroughly  uncomfortable.  "  My  fate,"  was  the 
reply,  "will  be  the  fate  of  the  man  who  called  out, 
Woe !  over  Jerusalem,  before  the  last  siege,  and  Woe ! 
over  himself,  while  a  stone,  thrown  by  the  enemy,  ended 
his  life."  With  these  words  Cazotte  bowed  and  with- 
drew from  the  room.  However  much  of  the  details  may 
have  been  subsequently  added  to  the  prediction,  the  fact 
of  such  a  prophecy  has  never  yet  been  impugned,  and 
William  Burt,  who  was  a  witness  of  the  scene,  emphati- 
cally endorses  the  account. 

Even  the  stern  Calvinists  have  had  their  religious 
prophets,  among  whom  Du  Serre  is  probably  the  most 
interesting.  He  established  himself  in  1686  in  the 
Dauphine,  but  extended  his  operations  soon  into  the 
Cevennes,  and  thus  prepared  the  great  uprising  of  Prot- 
estants there  in  1688,  which  led  to  fearful  war  and 
general  devastation.  Special  gifts  of  prophecy  were  ac- 
corded to  a  few  generally  uneducated  persons ;  but  in 


DIVINATION.  333 

these  they  appeared  very  strikingly,  so  that,  for  instance, 
many  young  girls  belonging  to  the  lowest  classes  of 
society,  and  entirely  unlettered,  were  not  only  able  to 
foretell  coming  events,  but  also  to  preach  with  great 
eloquence  and  to  interpret  Holy  Writ.  These  phenomena 
became  numerous  enough  to  induce  the  camisards,  as 
the  rebellious  Protestants  of  the  Cevennes  were  called, 
finally  to  form  a  regular  system  of  inspiration.  They 
spoke  of  four  degrees  of  ecstasis :  the  first  indication,  the 
inspiring  breath,  the  prediction,  and  the  gifts ;  the  last 
was  the  highest.  The  spirit  of  prophecy  could  be  com- 
municated by  an  inspired  person  to  others ;  this  was 
generally  done  by  a  kiss.  Even  children  of  three  and 
four  years  were  enabled  to  foretell  the  future,  and  per- 
severed, although  they  were  often  severely  punished  by 
their  parents,  whom  the  authorities  held  responsible 
for  their  misconduct,  as  it  was  called.  (T7i6atre  Sacri 
des  Cevennes,  p.  66.) 

Xor  has  this  gift  of  prophesying  been  noticed  only 
in  men  of  our  own  faith  and  our  race. 

An  author  whose  trustworthiness  cannot  be  doubted 
for  a  moment,  Jones  Forbes,  gives  in  his  "  Oriental  Me- 
moirs "  (London,  1803),  an  instance  of  the  prophesying 
power  of  East  Indian  magicians,  which  is  as  well  au- 
thenticated as  remarkable.  A  Mr.  Hodges  had  acci- 
dentally made  the  acquaintance  of  a  young  Brahmin, 
who,  although  unknown  to  the  English  residents,  was 
famous  among  the  natives  for  his  great  gifts.  They 
became  fast  friends,  and  the  Indian  never  ceased  to 


334  MODERN   MAGIC. 

urge  Hodges  to  remain  strictly  in  the  path  of  duty,  as 
by  so  doing  he  was  sure  to  reach  the  highest  honors. 
In  order  to  enforce  his  advice  he  predicted  that  he 
would  rise  from  the  post  he  then  occupied  as  Eesident 
in  Bombay  to  higher  places,  till  he  would  finally  be  ap- 
pointed governor.  The  prediction  was  often  discussed 
among  Hodges'  friends,  and  when  fortune  favored  him 
and  he  really  obtained  unusually  rapid  preferment,  he 
began  to  rely  more  than  ever  on  the  IndianTs  predic- 
tion. But  suddenly  a  severe  blow  shattered  all  his 
hopes.  A  rival  of  his,  Spencer,  was  appointed  governor, 
and  Hodges,  very  indignant  at  what  he  considered  an 
act  of  unbearable  injustice,  wrote  a  sharp  and  disre- 
spectful letter  to  the  Governor  and  Council  of  the  Com- 
pany. The  result  was  his  dismissal  from  the  service 
and  the  order  to  return  to  Europe.  Before  embarking 
he  sent  once  more  for  his  friend,  who  was  then  living  at 
one  of  the  sacred  places,  and  when  he  came  informed 
him  of  the  sad  turn  in  his  affairs  and  reproached  him 
with  his  false  predictions.  The  Indian,  however,  was 
in  no  way  disconcerted,  but  assured  Hodges  that  al- 
though his  adversary  had  put  his  foot  on  the  threshold, 
he  would  never  enter  the  palace,  but  that  he,  Hodges, 
would,  in  spite  of  appearances,  most  surely  reach  the 
high  post  which  he  had  promised  him  years  ago.  These 
assurances  produced  no  great  effect,  and  Hodges  was  on 
the  point  of  going  on  board  the  ship  that  was  to  carry 
him  to  Europe,  when  another  vessel  sailed  into  the  har- 
bor, having  accomplished  the  voyage  out  in  a  most  unu- 


DIVINATION.  335 

sually  short  time,  and  brought  new  orders  from  England. 
The  Court  of  Directors  had  disapproved  of  Spencer's 
conduct  as  Governor  of  Bengal,  revoked  his  appoint- 
ment, dismissed  him  from  service,  and  ordered  Hodges 
to  be  installed  as  Governor  of  Bombay  !  From  that  day 
the  Brahmin  obtained  daily  more  influence  over  the 
mind  of  his  English  friend,  and  the  latter  undertook 
nothing  without  having  first  consulted  the  strangely 
gifted  native.  It  became,  however,  soon  a  matter  of 
general  remark,  that  the  Brahmin  could  never  be  per- 
suaded to  refer  in  his  predictions  to  the  time  beyond 
the  year  1771,  as  he  had  never  promised  Hodges  another 
post  of  honor  than  that  which  he  now  occupied.  The 
explanation  of  his  silence  came  but  too  soon,  for  in  the 
night  of  the  22d  of  February,  1772,  Hodges  died  sud- 
denly, and  thus  ended  his  brilliant  career,  verifying  his 
friend's  prophecy  in  every  detail. 

THE   DIVIXIKG   KOD. 

The  relations  in  which  some  men  stand  to  Nature 
are  sometimes  so  close  as  to  enable  them  to  make  dis- 
coveries which  are  impossible  to  others.  This  is,  for 
instance,  the  case  with  persons  who  feel  the  presence  of 
waters  or  of  metals.  The  former  have,  from  time  im- 
memorial, generally  used  a  wand,  the  so-called  divin- 
ing rod,  which,  according  to  Pliny,  was  already  known 
to  the  ancient  Etruscans  as  a  iiu-ans  for  the  discovery 
of  hidden  springs.  An  Italian  author,  Amoretti,  who 
has  given  special  attention  to  this  subject,  states  that 


336  MODEllN    MAGIC. 

at  least  every  fifth  man  is  susceptible  to  the  influence 
of  water  and  metals,  but  this  is  evidently  an  over- 
estimate. In  recent  times  many  persons  have  been 
known  to  possess  this  gift  of  discovering  hidden  springs 
or  subterranean  masses  of  water,  and  these  have  but 
rarely  employed  an  instrument.  Catharine  Beutler, 
of  Thurgovia,  in  Switzerland,  and  Anna  Maria  Brngger 
of  the  same  place,  were  both  so  seriously  affected  by  the 
presence  of  water  that  they  fell  into  violent  nervous 
excitement  when  they  happened  to  cross  places  beneath 
which  larger  quantities  were  concealed,  and  became 
perfectly  exhausted.  In  France  a  class  of  men,  called 
soicrciers,  have  for  ages  possessed  this  instinctive  power 
of  perceiving  the  presence  of  water,  and  others,  like  the 
famous  Abbe  Paramelle,  have  cultivated  the  natural 
gift  till  they  were  finally  enabled,  by  a  mere  cursory 
examination  of  a  landscape,  to  ascertain  whether  large 
masses  of  water  were  hidden  anywhere,  and  to  indicate 
the  precise  spots  where  they  might  be  found. 

Why  water  and  metals  should  almost  always  go  hand 
in  hand  in  connection  with  this  peculiar  gift,  is  not 
quite  clear ;  but  the  staff  of  Hermes,  having  probably 
the  form  of  the  divining  rod,  was  always  represented 
as  giving  the  command  over  the  treasures  of  the  earth, 
and  the  Orphic  Hymn  (v.  527)  calls  it,  hence,  the 
golden  rod,  producing  wealth  and  happiness.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Aquce  Virgo,  the  nymph  of  springs,  had 
also  a  divining  rod  in  her  hand,  and  Kuma,  inspired  by 
a  water  nymph,  established  the  worship  of  waters  in 


DIVINATION.  337 

connection  with  that  of  the  dead.  For  here,  also, 
riches  and  death  seem  to  have  entered  into  a  strange 
alliance.  Del  Rio,  in  his  Disquisitiones  magicce,  men- 
tions thus  the  Zahuri  of  Spain,  the  lynx-eyed,  as  he 
translates  the  name,  who  were  able  on  Wednesdays  and 
Saturdays  to  discover  all  the  veins  of  metals  or  of  water 
beneath  the  surface,  all  hidden  treasures,  and  corpses 
in  their  coffins.  There  is  at  least  one  instance  re- 
corded where  a  person  possessed  the  power  to  see  even 
more  than  the  Zalmris.  This  was  a  Portuguese  lady, 
Pedegache,  who  first  attracted  attention  by  being  able 
to  discover  subterranean  springs  and  their  connections, 
a  gift  which  brought  her  great  honors  after  she  had  in- 
formed the  king  of  all  the  various  supplies  of  water 
which  were  hidden  near  a  palace  which  he  was  about 
to  build.  Shafts  were  sunk  according  to  her  directions, 
and  not  only  water  was  found,  but  also  the  various 
soils  and  stones  which  she  had  foretold  would  have  to 
be  pierced.  She  also  seems  to  have  cultivated  her 
talent,  for  we  hear  of  her  next  being  able  to  discover 
treasures,  even  valuable  antique  statues,  in  the  interior 
of  houses,  and  finally  she  reached  such  a  degree  of  in- 
tuition, that  she  saw  the  inner  parts  of  the  human 
body,  and  pointed  out  their  diseases  and  defects. 

Savoy  seems  to  be  a  specially  favorable  region  for  the 
development  of  this  peculiar  gift,  for  if  in  Cornwall 
one  out  of  every  forty  men  is  believed  to  possess  it,  in 
Savoy  the  divining  rod  is  in  the  hands  of  nearly  every 
one.  But  what  marks  the  talent  in  this  case  as  pecu- 

15 


338  MODERN    MAGIC. 

liar  is  that  it  is  by  no  means  limited  to  the  discovery 
of  water,  but  extends  to  other  things  likewise.  A  very 
wealthy  family,  called  Collomb,  living  in  Cessens, 
boasted  of  more  than  one  member  who  was  able,  by  the 
aid  of  the  rod  and  with  bandaged  eyes,  to  discover  not 
only  pieces  of  money,  but  even  needles,  evidently  cases 
of  personal  susceptibility  to  the  presence  of  metals, 
aided  by  electric  currents.  Once,  at  least,  the  gift  was 
made  useful.  A  number  of  bags  filled  with  wheat  had 
been  stolen  from  a  neighboring  house,  and  the  police 
were  unable  to  discover  the  hiding-place.  At  the  re- 
quest of  his  friends  one  of  the  Collombs  undertook  the 
search  with  the  aid  of  the  divining  rod;  he  soon  found 
the  window  through  which  the  bags  had  been  handed 
out ;  he  then  followed  the  track  along  the  banks  of  the 
river  Cheran,  and  asserted  that  the  thief  had  crossed  to 
the  other  side.  At  that  time  nothing  more  was  dis- 
covered ;  but  soon  afterwards  a  miller  living  across  the 
river  was  suspected,  the  bags  were  found,  and  the 
culprit  sent  to  the  galleys.  (Revue  Savoisienne,  April  15, 
1852.)  Dr.  Mayo  mentions,  mainly  upon  the  authority 
of  George  Fairholm,  a  number  of  instances  in  which 
persons  belonging  to  all  clases  of  society  have  exhibited 
the  same  gift,  but  ascribes  its  efficacy  to  the  presence  of 
currents  of  Od. 

The  divining  rod,  originally  a  twig  of  willow  or  hazel, 
is  often  made  of  metal,  and  the  impression  prevails  that 
in  such  cases  an  electric  current,  arising  from  the  sub- 
terranean water  or  metals,  enters  the  diviner's  body  by 


DIVINATION.  339 

the  feet,  passes  through  him,  and  finally  affects  the  two 
branches  of  the  rod,  which  represent  opposite  poles.  It 
is  certain  that  when  the  electric  current  is  interrupted, 
the  power  of  the  divining  rod  is  suspended.  Dr.  Mayo 
tells  us  of  a  lady  of  his  acquaintance  in  Southampton, 
who  at  his  request  used  a  divining  rod  of  copper  and 
iron  wire,  made  after  the  fashion  of  the  usual  hazel 
rod;  it  answered  the  purpose  fully,  but  when  the  ends 
touched  by  her  hands  were  covered  with  sealing-wax, 
it  became  useless  ;  as  soon  as  she  put  her  fingers  in  con- 
tact with  the  unprotected  wire,  the  power  instantly  re- 
turned. This  certainly  seemed  to  be  strong  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  an  electric  current.  Nevertheless,  many 
believe  that  the  divining  rod  acts  in  all  cases  sim- 
ply as  an  extension  of  the  arms,  and  thus  serves  to  make 
the  vibrations  of  the  muscles  more  distinct.  It  is  by 
this  theory  they  explain  the  fact  which  has  caused  serious 
trouble  to  careful  inquirers  like  Count  Tristan  and  Dr. 
Mayo,  that  the  gift  of  using  the  divining  rod  varies 
with  the  state  of  health  in  the  individuals  in  whom  it 
has  been  discovered. 


VII. 
POSSESSION. 

"  Thereupon  St.  Theophilus  made  a  pact  with  the  Devil." — 
ACTA,  S.  S.,  4  February. 

MANY  forms  of  insanity,  it  is  well  known,  are  accom- 
panied by  the  fixed  idea  that  the  sufferer  is  continually 
associated  with  another  being,  a  friend  or  an  enemy,  a 
man,  an  animal,  or  a  mere  shadow.  Somnambulists, 
also,  not  unfrequently  fancy  that  they  obtain  their  ex- 
ceptional knowledge  of  hidden  things,  not  by  intuition 
or  instinct,  but  through  the  agency  of  a  medium,  whom 
they  look  upon  as  an  angel  or  a  demon.  There  is, 
however,  a  third  class  of  cases,  far  more  formidable  than 
either  of  those  mentioned,  in  which  the  mind  is  dis- 
turbed, and  magic  phenomena  are  produced  by  an 
agency  apparently  entirely  independent  of  the  patient 
himself.  Such  are  possession,  vampirism  and  zoanthro- 
py — three  frightful  forms  of  human  suffering,  which  are 
fortunately  very  rare,  being  limited  to  certain  localities 
in  space,  to  a  few  short  periods  in  time,  and  to  men  of 
the  lowest  grade  only. 

Possession  is  that  appalling  state  of  mind  which 
makes  the  patient  believe  that  he  is  in  the  power  of  a 
foreign  evil  being,  which  has  for  the  time  full  control 
over  his  body.  This  power  it  abuses  by  plaguing  the 


POSSESSION.  341 

body  in  every  imaginable  way,  by  distorting  the  fea- 
tures till  they  assume  a  scornful,  diabolical  expression, 
and  above  all,  by  causing  the  sufferer  to  give  utterance 
to  cynical  remarks  and  horrible  blasphemy.  All  these 
phenomena  are  based  upon  the  division  of  the  patient's 
individuality,  which  cannot  be  remedied  by  any  effort  of 
his  own,  and  which  makes  him  look  upon  the  evil  prin- 
ciple in  his  nature  as  something  outside  of  himself,  and 
no  longer  under  his  control.  The  phenomena  which 
accompany  possession  are  too  fearful  in  their  nature, 
and  yet  at  the  same  time  too  exceptional  to  keep  us  al- 
together and  easily  from  believing,  as  many  thought- 
ful and  even  pious  men  have  thought,  that  in  these 
cases  a  real  demon  takes  possession  of  the  afflicted.  The 
bitter  hatred  against  religion,  which  is  always 
a  symptom  of  possession,  would  naturally  tend  to  en- 
force such  a  presumption.  The  possessed  know  not  only 
their  own  sins,  but  also  those  of  the  bystanders,  and  use 
this  knowledge  with  unsparing  bitterness  and  cruel 
scorn ;  at  the  same  time  they  feel  the  superiority  of 
others  with  whom  they  may  come  in  contact,  as  the  de- 
moniacs of  the  Bible  never  failed  to  recognize  in  Christ 
the  Son  of  God.  From  the  numerous  cases  of  modem 
possession  which  have  been  investigated,  we  derive  the 
following  information  as  to  its  real  nature.  Possession 
is  invariably  a  kind  of  insanity,  which  is  accompanied 
by  exceptional  powers,  producing  magic  phenomena ; 
it  is  also  invariably  preceded  by  some  grave  disorder  or 
dangerous  disease.  The  former  may  be  of  purely  men- 


342  MODERN   MAGIC. 

tal  nature,  for  violent  coercion  of  will,  sudden  and  sub- 
versive nervous  shocks  or  long-continued  enforcement 
of  a  hateful  mode  of  life,  are  apt  to  produce  the  sad 
effect.  Hence  its  frequent  occurrence  in  monasteries, 
orphan  asylums  and  similar  institutions,  where  this 
kind  of  insanity  is,  moreover,  liable  to  become  epidemic. 
At  other  times  the  cause  is  a  trivial  one,  and  then  a 
peculiar  predisposition  must  be  presumed  which  only 
needed  a  decisive  act  to  bring  the  disturbed  mind  to  its 
extremity.  But  possession  is  not  merely  an  affection  of 
the  mind,  it  is  also  always  a  disease  of  the  body,  which 
in  the  bewildered  and  disordered  imagination  of  the 
patient  becomes  personified  in  the  shape  of  a  demon ; 
hence  the  graver  the  disease,  the  fiercer  the  demon. 
As  sickness  worries  the  patient,  robs  him  of  his  appe- 
tite and  makes  all  he  used  to  like  distasteful  to  him,  so 
the  demon  also  suffers  no  enjoyment;  interferes  with 
every  pleasure,  and  consistently  rages  especially  against 
religion,  which  alone  could  give  consolation  in  such 
cases.  The  outbursts  of  rage  in  demoniacs,  when  efforts 
are  made  to  exorcise  or  convert  them,  even  although 
nothing  but  prayers  may  be  attempted,  is  ascribed  to  an 
instinctive  repugnance  of  the  sufferers  for  means  which 
they  feel  to  be  utterly  inappropriate  to  their  case — very 
much  as  if  men,  mad  with  hunger,  were  to  be  fed  with 
moral  axioms.  Possession  is  finally  sometimes  limited 
to  parts  of  the  body ;  as  when  a  demoniac  is  spoken  of 
who  was  dumb  (Matt.  ix.  32),  and  another  who  was 
blind  and  dumb  (Matt.  xii.  22).  In  other  cases  the 


POSSESSION.  343 

body  is  endowed  with  supernatural  strength,  and  four 
or  five  powerful  men  have  been  known  to  be  scarcely 
able  to  hold  a  frail  girl  of  fifteen. 

A  peculiar,  feature  in  possession  is,  that  during  the 
most  violent  attacks  of  apparent  fury,  accompanied  by 
hideous  cries  and  frightful  contortions,  the  pulse  is  not 
quickened  and  the  physical  strength  of  the  patient  does 
not  seem  in  the  least  diminished.  The  disease,  how- 
ever, naturally  affects  his  whole  system  and  exhausts  it 
in  time.  The  possessed  man,  who  unlike  somnambu- 
lists retains,  during  the  paroxysms,  full  control  over  all 
his  senses,  never  speaks  of  the  demon  that  possesses 
him,  but  the  demon  speaks  of  him  as  of  a  third  person, 
and  at  the  same  time  of  himself,  a  feature  which  power- 
fully contributes  to  the  popular  belief  of  actual  demons 
dAvelling  in  these  unfortunate  persons.  And  yet,  after 
the  paroxysm  is  over,  the  poor  sufferer  knows  nothing 
of  the  horrible  things  he  has  done,  and  of  the  fearful 
words  he  has  uttered ;  if  he  is  told  what  has  occurred, 
he  is  terribly  shocked,  and  bitterly  repents  his  mis- 
doings. 

The  paroxysms  are  twofold :  in  the  body  they  appear 
as  violent  convulsions  accompanied  by  a  contraction  of 
the  throat  and  the  globulus  hystericus  ;  saliva  forms  in 
abundance,  black,  coal-like  lumps  are  thrown  up  and 
the  breath  is  hot  and  ill-smelling.  In  this  mental  form 
they  appear  as  a  raging  of  the  demon  against  the  pos- 
sessed and  against  religion — in  fact  a  struggle  of  the 
patient  with  himself  and  his  former  convictions.  Oc- 


344  MODERN    MAGIC. 

casioually  the  good  principle  within  him  assumes,  in 
contradistinction  to  the  demon  who  personifies  the  evil 
principle,  the  form  of  a  guardian  angel,  who  comforts 
the  poor  sufferer  as  he  is  tossed  to  and  fro  like  a  ship  in 
a  tempest,  and  promises  him  assistance.  Nor  is  the  de- 
mon always  alone ;  there  may  be,  as  Holy  Writ  teaches, 
seven,  thousands,  or  their  name  may  be  "Legions,"  for 
these  visionary  beings  are  only  so  many  representatives 
of  certain  evil  principles  at  work  in  the  soul  of  the  pos- 
sessed. Some  patients  have  been  enabled  to  trace  this 
connection  and  to  discover  that  each  symptom  of  their 
disease  was  thus  personified  by  a  separate  demon  to 
whom  in  their  paroxysms  they  ascribed  the  infliction : 
Lucifer  caused  pricking  and  stinging  pains,  Aiizian 
tearing  and  scratching,  Junian  convulsions  of  limbs, 
etc.  The  fearful  suffering  which  demoniacs  have  to  un- 
dergo and  the  still  more  harassing  conflicts  in  their 
soul  drive  them  frequently  to  despair  and  engender 
thoughts  of  suicide.  During  these  paroxysms  the 
struggle  between  light  and  darkness,  heaven  and  hell, 
eternal  bliss  and  damnation,  angel  and  devil,  is  carried 
on  with  such  energy  and  dramatic  truthfulness  that 
those  who  witness  it  are  apt  to  become  deeply  excited 
and  often  suffer  not  a  little  from  the  violent  transitions 
from  sympathy  to  horror  and  from  heartfelt  pity  to  un- 
speakable disgust.  As  soon  as  the  dualism  in  the  soul 
relaxes,  and  with  it  the  disease  becomes  milder,  the  de- 
mon also  grows  more  quiet;  a  happy  moment  of  rest 
ensues,  which  the  exerciser  calls  the  period  of  conver- 


POSSESSION.  345 

sion ;  and  when  this  has  once  taken  place  the  patient  is 
no  longer  able  to  distinguish  the  demon  as  apart  from 
himself,  the  contradistinction  exists  no  more,  and  he  is 
reconciled  to  his  true  self. 

There  is  no  instance  known  in  which  an  intelligent, 
well-educated  person  has  become  possessed;  the  ter- 
rible misfortune  falls  exclusively  upon  rude  and  coarse 
natures,  a  fact  which  explains  the  coarseness  and  rude- 
ness of  so-called  demons.  Medicinal  remedies  are  sel- 
dom of  much  avail,  as  the  disease  has  already  reached 
a  stage  in  which  the  mind  is  at  least  as  much  affected 
as  the  body.  Exorcising  has  frequently  been  success- 
ful, but  only  indirectly,  through  the  firm  faith  which 
the  sufferer  still  holds  in  his  innermost  heart.  The 
great  dogma  that  Christ  has  come  into  this  world  to 
destroy  the  works  of  the  Evil  One,  has  probably  been  in- 
culcated into  his  mind  from  childhood  up,  and  can  now 
begin  once  more,  after  long  obscuration,  to  exercise  its 
supreme  power.  The  cure  depends,  however,  not  only  on 
the  presence  of  such  faith,  but  rather  on  the  supremacy 
which  the  idea  of  Christ's  power  gains  over  the  idea  of 
the  devil's  power.  Hence  the  symptoms  of  possession 
not  unfrequently  cease  under  a  fervent  invocation  of 
the  Saviour,  if  the  exerciser  is  able  by  his  superior 
energy  of  will  to  create  in  the  patient  a  firm  faith  in 
the  power  of  the  holy  name.  This  expulsion  of  the 
demon  is,  of  course,  nothing  more  than  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  struggle  by  the  evil  principle  in  the  suf- 
ferer's soul,  by  which  the  good  impulses  become  once 
15* 


346  MODEKN   MAGIC. 

more  dominant,  and  a  healthy,  natural  state  of  mind 
and  body  is  restored. 

It  must,  however,  not  be  overlooked  that  the  views 
of  possession  have  changed  essentially  in  different  na- 
tions and  ages.  At  the  time  of  Christ's  coming  the 
belief  in  actual  possession,  the  dwelling  of  real  demons 
in  the  body  of  human  beings,  was  universal,  and  to  this 
belief  the  language  of  Holy  Writ  naturally  adapts  its 
records  of  miracles. 

The  Kabbalah  as  well  as  the  Talmud  contain  full 
accounts  of  a  kingdom  of  hell,  opposed  to  the  heavenly 
kingdom,  with  Smaal  as  head  of  all  satanim  or  evil 
spirits,  defying  Jehovah.  The  latter  are  allowed  to 
dwell  upon  earth  side  by  side  with  the  sons  of  Adam, 
and  occasionally  to  possess  them  and  to  live  in  their 
souls  as  in  a  home  of  their  own.  In  other  cases  it  was 
the  spirit  of  a  deceased  person  which,  condemned  for 
sins  committed  during  life  to  wander  about  as  a  demon, 
received  permission  to  enter  the  soul  of  a  living  being. 
The  New  Testament  mentions  at  least  seven  cases  of 
possession,  from  the  woman  whose  suffering  was  simply 
ascribed  to  the  Devil's  agency,  to  Mary  Magdalene  who 
was  relieved  of  seven  demons,  and  the  Gadarene,  who 
had  a  "  legion  "  of  devils.  The  Catholic  Church  also 
has  always  taught  the  existence  of  evil  spirits;  doctrinal 
works,  however,  mention  only  one,  Diabolus  or  Sa- 
tauas.  Although  the  Church  adheres  consistently  to 
the  theory  of  actual  possession,  it  teaches  that  demons 
cannot  wholly  take  possession  of  a  human  soul,  but 


POSSESSION.  347 

only  force  it  to  obedience  or  accept  voluntary  submis- 
sion. Hence  their  power  over  the  body  also  never 
becomes  absolute,  but  is  always  shared  with  the  soul 
of  the  sufferer.  Among  Protestants  many  orthodox 
believers  look  upon  possession  as  a  mere  delusion  prac- 
tised by  the  Evil  One ;  others  admit  its  existence,  but 
attribute  it  to  the  souls  of  deceased  persons  and  not 
to  demons.  This  was  the  doctrine  of  the  ancient 
Greeks,  who,  like  the  Eomans,  seem  to  have  known  but 
a  few  rare  cases  of  possession,  which  they  ascribed  to 
departed  spirits.  Thus  Philostratus,  in  his  life  of  Apol- 
lonius  (1.  iii.  ch.  38),  mentions  a  young  man  who  was 
for  two  years  possessed  by  a  demon  pretending  to  be 
the  spirit  of  a  soldier  killed  in  battle.  Nearly  all 
nations  on  earth  have  records  of  possession.  Thus 
cases  occurring  in  China  and  Japan  and  in  the  Indies 
are  attributed  to  the  influence  of  certain  deities,  as  the 
Hindoos  know  neither  a  hell  nor  a  devil.  Early  trav- 
elers, like  Blom  and  Eochefort,  report,  in  like  manner, 
that  in  some  of  the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  Sea  evil 
spirits  are  believed  to  obtain  at  times  possession  of 
women  and  then  to  enable  them  to  foretell  the  future. 
According  to  Ellis  the  inhabitants  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands  were  much  plagued  by  evil  spirits  dwelling  in 
some  of  their  brethren. 

It  was  only  towards  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century 
that  possession  was  found  to  be  nothing  more  than  a 
peculiar  disease  arising  from  the  combination  of  an 
unsound  mind  with  an  unsound  body.  This  discovery 


348  MODERN    MAGIC. 

was  first  made  by  Farmer  in  England,  and  by  Semler 
in  Germany;  since  that  time  the  symptoms  of  the 
character  of  the  affection  have  been  very  generally 
studied  and  thoroughly  investigated. 

Thus  it  has  been  discovered  that  similar  phenomena 
are  occasionally  observed  in  typhus  and  nervous  fevers. 
First  the  patients  fancy  they  feel  somebody  breathing 
by  their  side,  or  blowing  cold  air  upon  their  head;  after 
long  unconsciousness  they  are  apt  to  imagine  that  they 
are  double,  and  have  been  known  to  hesitate  where  to 
carry  the  spoon  containing  their  medicine.  In  still 
more  marked  cases,  persons  who  have  suffered  from  the 
effects  of  some  great  calamity,  and  have  thus  been 
brought  to  the  verge  of  the  grave,  have  even  acted  two 
different  individualities,  of  which  one  was  pious  and 
the  other  impious,  or  one  speaking  the  patient's  native 
tongue  and  the  other  a  foreign  language.  As  they  re- 
covered and  as  the  return  of  health  brought  back  bodily 
and  mental  strength,  this  dualism  also  ceased  to  be  ex- 
hibited during  the  paroxysm,  and  finally  disappeared 
altogether. 

Possession  is  generally  announced  some  time  before- 
hand by  premonitory  symptoms,  but  the  first  cause  is 
not  always  easily  ascertained.  When  we  are  told  that 
certain  cases  have  originated  in  a  hastily  spoken  word, 
a  fierce  curse  or  an  outburst  of  passion,  we  only  learn 
thus  what  was  the  first  occasion  on  which  the  malady 
has  been  noticed,  but  not  what  was  the  first  cause. 
This  lies  almost  invariably  in  moral  corruption  ;  the 


POSSESSION.  349 

lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  pride  of 
the  heart  are  by  far  the  most  frequent  sources  of  the 
frightful  disease.  Occasionally  a  very  great  and  sudden 
grief,  like  the  unexpected  death  of  a  beloved  person,  or 
too  great  familiarity  with  evil  thoughts  in  books  or  in 
conversation,  produce  the  same  effect — in  fact  all  the 
various  causes  which  result  in  insanity  may  produce 
also  possession.  Nor  must  serious  bodily  injuries  be 
forgotten.  A  student  of  the  University  of  Halle  con- 
sidered himself  possessed,  and  the  case  puzzled  expe- 
rienced physicians  for  some  time,  till  it  was  ascertained 
that  he  had  received  a  violent  blow  upon  the  head, 
which  required  trepanning.  Before  the  operation  could 
be  undertaken,  however,  matter  began  to  ooze  out  from 
the  ear,  and  he  suddenly  was  relieved  from  the  parox- 
ysms and  all  thoughts  of  possession.  Convents  are 
naturally  very  frequently  scenes  of  possession — the  in- 
mates are  either  troubled  by  bitter  remorse  for  sins 
which  have  led  them  to  seek  refuge  in  a  holy  place, 
where  they  cannot  find  peace,  or  they  succumb  to  the 
rigor  of  severe  discipline  and  are  unable  to  endure  the 
constant  privation  of  food  or  sleep.  The  sin  against 
the  Holy  Ghost,  which  unfortunate  persons  have  im- 
puted to  themselves,  has  produced  many  a  case  of  pos- 
session. When  the  mind  is  thus  predisposed  by  great 
anguish  of  soul  or  a  long-continued  inward  struggle, 
the  most  trifling  incident  suffices  in  determining  the 
outbreak  of  the  disease.  One  patient  became  possessed 
because  his  wife  told  him  to  go  to  the  Devil,  and  another 


350  MODERN   MAGIC. 

because  lie  had  in  jest  exorcised  a  demon  in  a  playmate ; 
now  a  man  curses  himself  in  a  moment  of  passion,  and 
then  a  boy  drinks  hastily  a  glass  of  cold  water  when 
overheated,  and  both  fall  victims  to  the  disease. 

The  magic  phenomena  accompanying  possession  are 
by  far  the  most  remarkable  within  the  whole  range  of 
modern  magic,  but  a  number  of  the  more  striking  are 
frequently  identical  with  those  seen  in  religious  ecsta- 
sy. Demoniacs  also  exhibit  the  traces  of  injuries  in- 
flicted by  demons,  as  saints  show  the  stigmas,  and  their 
wounds  heal  as  little  as  those  of  stigmatized  persons. 
They  share  in  like  manner  with  religious  enthusiasts 
paroxysms  during  which  they  remain  suspended  in  the 
air,  fly  up  to  the  ceiling  or  are  carried  to  great  distances 
without  touching  the  ground.  The  strength  of  the 
possessed  is  amazing.  A  monk,  known  in  ecclesiastical 
history  as  Brother  Eafael  of  Rimini,  could  not  be 
bound  by  any  ropes  or  chains;  as  soon  as  he  was  left 
alone  he  broke  the  strongest  fetters,  raced  up  the  roof 
of  the  church,  ran  along  the  topmost  ridge,  and  was 
often  found  sitting  on  the  great  bell,  to  which  no  one 
else  had  ever  been  able  to  gain  access.  At  last  the  de- 
mons led  him  to  the  top  of  the  steeple  itself  and  were 
about  to  hurl  him  down,  as  he  said ;  the  abbot  and  his 
monks  and  an  immense  crowd  of  people  assembled  be- 
low, and  besought  him  to  invoke  the  aid  of  their  pa- 
tron saint  so  as  to  save  body  and  soul.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear by  what  miraculous  influence  a  change  was 
•wrought  in  the  poor  man  ;  but  he  did  raise  his  voice, 


POSSESSION.  351 

which  had  not  been  heard  to  address  a  saint  for  many 
years,  and  instantly  his  mind  returned,  he  found,  his 
way  down  to  the  church  and  was  cured. 

The  most  frequent  symptom  in  possession  is  a  strong 
antipathy  against  everything  connected  with  religion ; 
the  holy  names  of  God  and  Christ,  the  presence  of 
priests,  the  singing  of  hymns  and  the  reciting  of 
prayers,  excite  intense  pain,  and  provoke  outbursts  of 
fury.  Even  young  children  manifest  this  aversion,  es- 
pecially when  they  have  previously  been  forced  to  attend 
church,  and  to  engage  in  devotional  exercises  against 
their  inclination.  Hence  it  is,  also,  that  paroxysms  are 
most  frequent- at  the  regular  hours  of  divine  service,  or 
break  forth  suddenly  at  the  sight  of  a  procession  or  the 
hearing  of  ringing  bells.  The  symptom  itself  arises 
naturally  from  the  imaginary  conflict  between  a  good 
and  an  evil  principle,  the  latter  being  continually  in 
arms  against  anything  that  threatens  to  crush  its  own 
power.  All  the  other  symptoms  of  this  fearful  disease 
occur,  also,  in  St.  Vitus'  dance,  in  catalepsy,  and  even  in 
ordinary  trances ;  only  they  appear  more  marked,  and 
make  a  greater  impression  upon  bystanders,  because 
they  are  apparently  caused  by  a  foreign  agent,  the  pos- 
sessing demon,  and  not  by  the  patient  himself.  As  the 
digestive  organs  are  in  all  such  cases  sympathetically 
excited,  and  seriously  aifected,  a  desire  for  unnatural 
food  is  very  frequent ;  the  coarsest  victuals  are  preferred ; 
unwholesome,  and  even  injurious  substances  are  eagerly 
devoured;  and  medicines  as  well  as  strengthening  food 


352  MOjDERN   MAGIC. 

are  vehemently  rejected.  The  sufferer  is  apt  to  interpret 
this  as  a  new  plague,  his  demon  refusing  him  his  legiti- 
mate sustenance,  and  compelling  him  to  feed  like  an 
animal. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  historical  cases  of  appar- 
ent possession  accompanied  by  magic  phenomena,  was 
that  of  Mirabeau's  grandmother.  Married  when  quite 
young  to  the  old  marquis,  she  tried  after  his  death  to 
protect  herself  against  the  temptations  of  the  Avorld, 
and  of  her  own  heart,  by  ascetic  devotion.  In  her 
eighty-third  year,  she  was  attacked  by  gout  which 
affected  her  brain,  and  she  became  insane,  in  a  manner 
which  according  to  the  views  of  her  days  was  called 
possession.  It  was  found  necessary  to  shut  her  up  in  a 
bare  room  with  a  pallet  of  straw,  where  no  one  dared 
enter  but  her  valet,  a  man  seventy  years  old,  with  whom 
she  had  fallen  in  love !  For,  strange  as  it  may  appear, 
her  fearful  affliction  restored  to  her  the  charms  of 
youth  ;  she,  who  had  been  reduced  to  a  skeleton  by  old 
age  and  unceasing  devotion,  suddenly  regained  the 
plumpness  of  her  early  years,  her  complexion  became 
fair  and  rosy,  her  eyes  bright  and  even,  her  hair  began 
to  grow  out  once  more.  But,  alas !  her  tongue,  also, 
had  changed  ;  once  afraid  to  utter  a  word  that  could  be 
misinterpreted,  the  unruly  member  now  sent  forth 
speeches  of  incredible  licentiousness,  and  overwhelmed 
the  old  servant  with  terms  of  endearment  and  coarse 
allusions.  At  the  same  time  the  retired  ascetic  became 
a  violent  blasphemer,  and  would  allow  no  one  to  enter 


POSSESSION.  353 

her  chamber  who  had  not  first  denied  God,  threatening 
to  kill  him  with  her  own  hands  if  he  refused.  For  four 
long  years  the  unfortunate  lady  endured  her  fearful 
affliction,  till  death  relieved  her  of  her  sufferings — but 
the  student  of  history  traces  to  her  more  than  one  of 
the  startling  features  in  the  character  of  her  grandson, 
the  Mirabeau  of  the  Revolution.  (Biilau,  Geh.  Gesch., 
xii.) 

Relief  is  generally  possible  only  when  a  powerful 
hold  has  been  obtained  upon  the  mind  of  the  patient ; 
after  that  appropriate  remedies  may  be  applied,  and  the 
body  will  be  restored  to  its  natural  healthy  condition. 
In  a  few  cases  remarkable  incidents  have  produced  a 
cure,  such  as  the  sudden  clanking  of  chains,  or  a 
peculiarly  fervent  and  impressive  prayer.  Even  a 
night's  sound  sleep,  induced  by  utter  exhaustion,  has 
had  the  happiest  effect. 

It  seems  as  if.  the  train  of  thoughts  once  forcibly  in- 
terrupted, a  return  to  reason  arid  an  abandonment  of 
fixed  ideas  become  possible.  Even  a  specially  violent 
paroxysm  may  be  salutary  ;  probably  by  means  of  the 
severe  struggle  and  extreme  excitement  which  it  is  apt 
to  produce.  Many  patients,  under  such  circumstances, 
fall  prostrate  on  the  ground,  losing  their  consciousness, 
and  awake  after  a  while  as  from  a  dream,  without  being 
able  to  remember  what  has  happened.  In  other  cases 
the  hallucination  continues  to  the  last  moment,  and 
leads  the  patient  to  imagine  that  the  demon  leaves 
him  in  the  shape  of  a  black  shadow,  a  bird,  or  an  insect. 


354:  MODERN   MAGIC. 

Such  recoveries  are  almost  invariably  accompanied  by 
violent  efforts  to  discard  foreign  matters,  which  have 
been  lodged  in  the  system,  and  largely  contributed  to 
produce  the  disease.  Exorcism  has,  of  course,  no  direct 
effect :  even  when  the  power  to  "  cast  out  devils  "  (Mark 
xvi.  17)  is  given,  it  is  not  said  by  what  means  the 
casting  out  is  to  be  accomplished,  except  that  it  must 
be  done  in  the  Saviour's  name.  The  formalities,  care- 
fully regulated  and  prescribed  by  many  decrees  of  the 
Church  since  the  third  century,  do  no  good  except  so 
far  as  they  re-awaken  faith,  impart  hope,  and  free  the 
mind  from  distressing  doubts.  Ignatius  Loyola  never 
cured  possessed  persons  otherwise  than  by  prayer.  As 
early  as  the  sixteenth  century  a  case  is  recorded  clearly 
illustrating  the  true  nature  of  exorcism.  A  demon 
was,  after  many  fruitless  attempts,  at  last  driven  out  by 
a  particle  of  the  cross  of  our  Saviour,  but  in  departing 
he  declared  in  a  loud  voice  that  he  kue\v  full  well  the 
nature  of  the  piece  of  wood;  it  was  cut  from  a  gallows 
and  not  from  the  true  cross,  nevertheless  he  was  forced 
to  go  because  the  exorcist  willed  it  so,  and  the  patient 
believed  in  his  power.  The  same  rule  applies  to  cures 
achieved  by  relics  ;  not  that  these  had  any  effect,  but  in 
the  long-cherished  faith  of  the  possessed,  that  they 
might  and  could  wield  such  power  over  evil  spirits. 

The  main  point  is  here  also  the  energy  of  will  in  the 
exerciser,  and  that  this  special  gift  is  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  men  was  strikingly  illustrated  by  a  famous 
lady,  the  wife  of  a  Marquis  de  la  Croix,  who  was  a 


POSSESSION.  355 

Spanish  general  and  Viceroy  of  Galicia.  In  her  youth 
a  matchless  beauty  with  almost  perfect  classical  fea- 
tures, she  retained  au  imposing  carriage  and  bewitching 
grace  throughout  a  long  life,  and  even  in  old  age  com- 
manded the  admiration  of  all  who  came  in  contact  with 
her,  not  only  by  the  superiority  of  her  mind  but  also 
by  the  beauty  of  her  eyes  and  the  charming  expression 
of  her  features.  After  the  death  of  her  husband  she 
had  much  to  endure  from  neglect  in  the  great  world, 
from  sickness  and  from  poverty,  doubly  hard  to  bear 
because  standing  in  painful  contrast  to  the  splendor  of 
her  former  life.  The  effects  of  a  violent  attack  of  sick- 
ness produced  at  last  a  partial  disturbance  of  her  mind, 
which  showed  itself  in  visions  and  the  power  to  drive 
demons  from  the  possessed.  Her  theory  was  that  as 
the  sins  of  men  caused  their  diseases,  and  as  the  Devil 
was  the  cause  of  all  sins,  sickness  was  invariably  pro- 
duced by  demoniac  agency;  she  distinguished,  how- 
ever, between  sufferers  who  had  voluntarily  given  them- 
selves up  to  sin,  and  thus  to  the  service  of  the  Devil, 
and  those  who  had  unawares  fallen  into  his  hands. 
Her  practice  was  simple  and  safe :  she  employed  nothing 
but  fervent  prayer  and  the  imposition  of  hands,  which 
she  had  moistened  with  holy  water  or  oil.  In  the 
course  of  time  she  found  her  way  to  Paris,  and  there 
met,  amid  many  skeptics,  also  with  countless  believers, 
some  of  whom  belonged  not  only  to  the  highest  classes 
of  society,  but  even  to  the  sect  of  Free-thinkers,  then 
prominent  in  the  French  capital.  Such  were  Marshal 


356  MODERN    AfAGIC. 

Kichelieu,  Count  Schomberg,  au  intimate  of  the  famous 
circle-meeting  at  Baron  Holbach's  house,  and  even  the 
illustrious  Buffon.  When  she  was  engaged  in  exorcising, 
her  imposing  stature,  her  imperious  eye  and  command- 
ing voice  aided  her  at  least  as  much  as  her  perfect 
faith  and  striking  humility,  so  that  her  patients,  after  a 
short  demur,  willingly  looked  upon  her  as  a  saint  who 
might,  if  she  but  chose,  perform  miracles.  With  such 
a  disposition  obedience  was  no  longer  difficult,  and  the 
remarkable  lady  healed  all  manners  of  diseases,  from 
modest  toothache  to  rabid  madness.  Even  when  she 
was  unsuccessful,  as  frequently  happened,  she  won  all 
hearts  by  her  marvelous  gentleness  and  humble  piety. 
Thus,  when  a  possessed  man  was  brought  to  her  in  the 
presence  of  an  illustrious  company,  and  all  her  efforts 
and  prayers  were  fruitless,  she  placed  herself  bravely 
between  the  enraged  man  and  her  friends  whom  he 
threatened  to  attack.  He  began  to  foam  at  the  mouth, 
and  amid  fearful  convulsions  and  dread  imprecations, 
broke  out  into  a  long  series  of  terrible  accusations 
against  the  poor  lady,  charging  her  with  all  her  real 
and  a  host  of  imaginary  sins,  till  she  could  hardly 
stand  up  any  longer.  She  listened,  however,  with  her 
arms  folded  over  her  bosom  and  her  eyes  raised  to 
heaven,  and  when  the  madman  at  last  sank  exhausted 
to  the  ground,  she  fell  upon  her  knees  and  said  to  the 
bystanders:  "Gentlemen,  you  see  here  a  punishment 
ordained  by  God  for  the  sins  of  my  youth.  I  deserve 
this  humiliation  in  your  presence,  and  I  would  endure 


POSSESSION.  357 

it  before  all  Paris  if  I  could  thus  make  atonement  for 
my  misdeeds."  (Mem.  du  Baron  de  Gleiclien,  p.  149.) 

One  of  the  most  fearful  features  of  possession  is  its 
tendency  to  spread  like  contagion  over  whole  commu- 
nities. Many  such  cases  are  recorded  in  history.  The 
monks  of  the  Convent  of  Quercy  were  thus  attacked  in 
1491,  and  suffered,  from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest, 
during  four  months,  incredible  afflictions.  They  ran 
like  dogs  through  the  fields,  climbed  upon  trees,  imi-  • 
tated  the  howling  of  wild  beasts,  spoke  in  unknown 
tongues,  and  foretold,  at  the  same  time,  future  events. 
(Goerres,  iv.  II.)  In  the  year  1566  a  similar  malady 
broke  out  in  the  Orphan  House  at  Amsterdam,  and 
seventy  poor  children  became  possessed.  They  also 
climbed  up  the  walls  and  on  the  roofs,  SAvallowed  hairs, 
needles,  and  pieces  of  glass  and  iron,  and  distorted 
their  features  and  their  limbs  in  a  fearful  manner. 
What,  however,  made  the  greatest  impression  upon  the 
good  citizens  of  the  town  were  the  magic  phenomena 
connected  with  their  disease.  They  spoke  to  the  over- 
seer and  even  to  the  chief  magistrate  of  their  secret 
affairs,  made  known  plots  hatched  against  the  Protest- 
ants and  foretold  events  which  happened  soon  after.  In 
a  convent  of  nuns  at  Yssel  in  the  Netherlands,  a  single 
nun,  Maria  de  Sains,  caused  one  of  the  most  fearful  ca- 
lamities among  her  sisters  that  has  ever  been  known. 
Katurally  a  woman  of  superior  mind,  but  carried  away 
by  evil  passions,  she  finally  succumbed  to  the  struggle 
between  the  latter  and  the  strict  rules  of  her  retreat : 


358  MODERN   MAGIC. 

she  began  to  accuse  herself  of  horrible  crimes  and  ex- 
cesses. The  whole  country  was  amazed,  for  she  had 
passed  for  a  great  saint,  and  now,  of  a  sudden,  she  con- 
fessed that  she  had  murdered  numberless  little  children, 
disinterred  corpses,  and  carried  poor  girls  to  the  meet- 
ing of  witches.  All  these  misdeeds,  which  existed  only 
in  her  disordered  imagination,  she  ascribed  to  the  agen- 
cy of  a  demon,  by  whom  she  was  possessed,  and  before 
many  weeks  had  passed,  every  nun  and  lay  sister  in  the 
ill-fated  convent  was  possessed  in  precisely  the  same 
manner ! 

One  of  the  most  recent  cases  of  possession  is  reported 
by  Bishop  Laurent  of  Luxemburg,  in  a  pamphlet  on 
the  subject.  In  the  year  1843  a  woman,  thirty-four 
years  old,  was  brought  to  him  who  had  been  possessed 
since  her  fifteenth  year,  and  who  exhibited  the  remark- 
able phenomenon  that  in  her  sound  moments  she  spoke 
no  other  language  but  the  patois  of  her  native  place, 
while  in  her  paroxysms  she  used  Latin,  French,  and 
German  at  will.  When  the  good  bishop  threatened  the 
demon,  the  latter  attacked  him  in  return,  troubling 
him  with  nightly  visits  and  suggesting  to  him  sinful 
doubts  of  the  existence  of  God  and  the  efficacy  of 
Christ's  sacrifice.  This  fact  shows  how  easily  such 
disturbances  of  mind  can  be  transferred  to  others, 
when  disease  or  mental  struggles  have  prepared  a  way. 
Fortunately  the  bishop  first  mastered  his  own  doubts, 
and,  thus  strengthened,  obtained  the  same  mastery 
over  the  possessed  woman.  He  commanded  the  demon 


POSSESSION.  359 

to  come  out  of  her,  whereupon  she  fell  into  convul- 
sions, speaking  in  a  disguised  tone  of  voice ;  but  after  a 
while  drew  herself  up,  and  now  her  face  was  once  more 
free  from  anguish,  and  "  angel-like. "  Another  bishop, 
who  had  been  requested  to  exorcise  possessed  persons  in 
Morzine,  in  the  Chablais,  was  not  so  successful.  At  this 
place,  in  1837,  a  little  girl,  nine  years  old,  in  consequence 
of  a  great  fright,  fell  into  a  deathlike  sleep,  which 
returned  daily,  and  lasted  about  fifteen  minutes.  A 
month  later,  another  girl,  eleven  years  old,  was  attacked 
in  the  same  way,  and  soon  the  number  of  afflicted  per- 
sons rose  to  twenty,  all  girls  under  twenty  years.  After  a 
while  they  declared  that  they  were  possessed  by  demons, 
and  ran  wild  through  the  fields,  climbed  to  the  top  of 
lofty  trees,  and  fell  into  violent  convulsions.  In  vain  did 
the  local  priest  and  his  vicar  attempt  to  arrest  the  evil ; 
the  girls  laughed  them  to  scorn.  When  the  civil  author- 
ities interfered,  they  were  met  with  insults  and  blows ; 
the  guilty  were  fined,  but  the  number  steadily  increased, 
and  now  grown  women  also  were  found  in  the  crowd. 
At  last  the  official  reports  reached  Paris,  and  •  the  min- 
ister sent  the  chief  superintendent  of  insane  asylums 
to  the  village.  He  immediately  distributed  all  the  af- 
fected among  the  adjoining  towns  and  hamlets,  to  break 
off  the  association,  and  sent  the  priest  and  his  vicar  to 
their  superior,  the  bishop  of  Annecy.  A  few  only  of 
the  women  recovered,  several  died,  and  one  man  also 
succumbed;  others,  when  they  returned  to  Morzine, 
relapsed,  and  in  1864  the  malady  began  to  spread  once 


360  MODERN   MAGIC. 

more  so  fearfully  that  the  bishop  of  Annecy  himself  came 
to  exorcise  the  possessed.  Seventy  of  them  were  brought 
to  the  church,  where  the  most  fearful  scenes  took  place ; 
howling  and  yelling  filled  the  sacred  building,  seven  or 
eight  powerful  men  scarcely  succeeded  in  bringing  one 
possessed  child  to  the  altar,  and  when  there,  the  demo- 
niacs broke  out  in  horrible  blasphemies.  The  bishop, 
exhausted  by  the  intense  excitement,  and  suffering  from 
serious  contusions  inflicted  upon  him  by  the  unfortu- 
nate women,  had  to  leave  the  place,  unable  to  obtain 
any  results.  Even  as  late  as  1869  two  demons  were 
solemnly  exorcised  upon  an  order  from  the  bishop  of 
Strasbourg,  and  with  the  consent  of  the  prefect  of  the 
department.  The  ceremony  took  place  in  the  Chapel 
of  St.  George,  in  the  presence  of  the  lady-abbesses, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Vicar-General  of  the 
diocese,  assisted  by  other  dignitaries  and  the  Superior 
of  the  Jesuits.  The  two  boys  who  were  to  be  relieved 
had  long  been  plagued  with  fearful  visions  and  publicly 
given  evidence  of  being  possessed,  for  "  twenty  or  thirty 
times  they  had  been  led  into  a  public  square  in  the 
presence  of  large  crowds,  and  there  they  had  pulled 
feathers  out  of  a  horrible  monster  which  they  saw  above 
them  in  a. threatening  attitude  ;  these  feathers  they  hud 
handed  to  the  bystanders,  who  found  that  when  they 
were  burnt  they  left  no  ashes."  When  the  two  chil- 
dren were  brought  to  the  house  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity, 
they  became  clairvoyant,  and  revealed  to  the  good 
ladies,  although  they  had  never  seen  them  before, 


POSSESSION.  361 

their  family  relations,  their  antecedents  and  many 
secrets.  They  also  spoke  in  unknown  tongues,  and 
exhibited  all  the  ordinary  phenomena  of  possession. 
The  official  report  containing  these  statements,  and 
closing  with  their  restoration  to  health  and  reason,  is 
so  far  trustworthy  as  it  is  signed  by  several  hundred 
persons,  among  whom  the  government  authorities, 
officers,  professors  and  teachers  are  not  wanting. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  dancing  mania 
which  broke  out  repeatedly  in  various  parts  of  the 
continent  of  Europe,  was  a  kind  of  possession.  The 
facts  are  recorded  in  history;  the  explanation  only  is 
left  as  a  matter  of  discussion.  In  1374,  when  a  new 
and  magnificent  church  was  to  be  consecrated,  in  Liege, 
large  numbers  of  people  came  from  North  Germany ; 
'•'  men  and  women,  possessed  by  demons,  half  naked, 
wreaths  on  their  heads,  and  holding  each  other's  hands, 
performed  shameless  dances  in  the  streets,  the  churches, 
and  houses.'-'  When  they  fell  down  exhausted  they  had 
spasms,  and  convulsions;  at  their  own  request,  friends 
came  and  pressed  violently  upon  their  chests,  till  they 
grew  better.  Their  number  soon  reached  thousands, 
and  other  thousands  joined  them  in  Holland  and  Bra- 
bant, although  the  priests  frequently  succeeded  in 
exorcising  them — whenever  .their  mind  was  still  sound 
enough  to  recall  their  early  reverence  for  holy  men  and 
their  faith  in  holy  things.  Some  time  before,  the  good 
people  of  Perugia  had  taken  it  into  their  heads  that 
their  sins  required  expiation,  and  had  begun  to  scourge 

1G 


362  MODEKN    MAGIC.. 

themselves  publicly  in  the  most  cruel  manner.  The 
Romans  were  infected  soon  after,  and  copied  their 
example;  from  thence  the  contagion  spread,  and  soon 
all  over  Italy  men,  women,  and  children  were  seen 
inflicting  upon  themselves  fearful  punishment  in  order 
to  drive  out  the  evil  spirits  by  whom  they  fancied 
themselves  possessed.  Noble  and  humble,  rich  and 
poor,  old  and  young,  all  joined  the  crowds  which  in  the 
daytime  filled  squares  and  streets,  and  at  night,  under 
the  guidance  of  priests,  marched  with  waving  banners, 
and  blazing  torches,  in  vast  armies  through  the  land. 
Nor  can  we  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  Jumpers 
and  Jerkers  of  the  Methodist  Church  present  to  us 
instances  of  the  same  mental  disorder,  caused  by  over- 
excitement,  which  in  earlier  days  was  called  possession, 
and  that,  hence,  these  aberrations,  also,  infinitely  varied 
as  they  are,  according  to  the  temper  of  men  and  the 
habits  of  the  locality  in  which  they  occur,  must  be 
numbered  among  the  phenomena  of  modern  magic. 

VAMPIRISM. 

Occasionally  possession  is  not  attributed  to  demons, 
but  to  deceased  men  who  come  by  night  from  their 
graves,  and  suck  the  blood  of  their  victims,  whereupon 
the  latter  begin  to  decline  and  finally  die  a  miserable 
death,  while  the  buried  man  lives  and  thrives  upon  his 
ill-gotten  food.  This  is  vampirism,  the  name  being 
derived  from  the  once  universal  belief  that  there  existed 
vampires,  huge  bats,  who,  whilst  fanning  sleeping  men 


POSSESSION.  363 

with  their  soft  wings,  feasted  upon  their  life's  blood  and 
only  left  them  when  they  had  turned  into  corpses.  Pop- 
ular credulity  added  a  number  of  horrid  details  to  the 
general  outline,  and  believed  that  the  wretched  victims 
of  vampirism  became  themselves  after  death  vam- 
pires, and  thus  forever  continued  the  fearful  curse.  It 
was  long  thought  that  vampirism  was  known  only  to 
the  nations  of  the  Slavic  race,  but  recent  researches 
have  discovered  traces  of  it  in  the  East  Indies,  and  in 
Europe  among  the  Magyars.  Even  the  Sanscrit  al- 
ready appears  to  have  had  a  term  of  its  own  for  the 
vampires — Pysachas,  "  hostile  beings,  eager  for  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  living  men,  who  gratify  their  cruel  lust 
mainly  at  the  expense  of  women  when  they  are  asleep, 
drunk,  or  insane." 

Careful  writers  like  Calmet  and  others  have,  it  is 
true,  always  maintained  that,  while  the  existence  of 
vampirism  cannot  be  denied,  the  phenomena  attending 
it  are  in  all  cases  the  creations  of  diseased  minds  only. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  well-established  fact  that  the 
bodies  of  so-called  vampires,  when  exhumed,  have  been 
found  free  from  corruption,  while  in  all  the  corpses 
around  them  decomposition  had  long  since  begun.  In 
the  face  of  such  facts  vampirism  cannot  be  dismissed 
as  simply  the  product  of  heated  and  over-excited  imag- 
inations, although  it  must  be  admitted  that  its  true  na- 
ture is  still  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  profound  mys- 
tery. According  to  popular  belief  the  unusual  preser- 
vation of  the  corpses  indicates  that  death  has  not  yet 


364  MODERN   MAGIC. 

obtained  full  dominion  over  the  bodies,  alid  that  hence 
the  soul  has  not  yet  departed  to  its  eternal  home.  A 
kind  of  lower  organic  life,  it  is  said,  continues,  and  as 
long  as  this  lasts,  the  soul  wanders  about,  as  in  a  dream, 
among  the  familiar  scenes  of  its  earthly  life  and  makes 
itself  known  to  the  friends  of  its  former  existence.  The 
life  thus  extended  requires  blood  in  order  to  sustain  it- 
self, and  hence  the  minds  of  those  who  come  in  magic 
contact  with  the  soul  of  a  vampire,  become  filled  with 
sanguinary  thoughts,  which  present  themselves  to  their 
imagination  as  the  desire  to  suck  blood  and  thus  lead  to 
the  actual  performance.  The  fact  that  vampirism  is 
epidemic,  like  many  similar  mental  diseases,  has  led  to 
the  belief  that  the  living  are  brought  into  close  con- 
nection with  the  dead  and  are  infected  by  them,  while 
in  reality  there  is  no  bond  between  'them  but  a  common 
misfortune.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  in  this  dis- 
ease, as  in  the  plague,  the  mere  thought  of  being  seized 
often  suffices  to  cause  death  without  any  warning  symp- 
toms, and  heuce  the  great  number  of  deaths  in  locali- 
ties where  vampirism  has  been  thought  to  prevail.  For 
very  few  of  those  who  are  attacked  succeed  in  escaping, 
and  if  they  survive  they  retain  for  life  the  marks  left  by 
their  wounds.  The  penalty,  moreover,  is  not  always 
undeserved ;  vampirism  rarely  if  ever  attacks  men  of 
pure  hearts  and  sober  minds ;  it  is  found,  on  the  con- 
trary, exclusively  among  semi-barbarous  nations  and 
only  in  persons  of  rude,  savage,  and  sinful  disposition. 
Traces  of  vampirism  have  been  discovered  in  the 


POSSESSION.  3G5 

most  distant  parts  of  the  earth,  and  often  without  ap- 
parent connection.  The  "  Bruholaks  "  of  Greece,  gen- 
uine vampires  whose  appearance  was  ascribed  to  the 
direct  influence  of  the  Evil  One,  may  possibly  have  been 
imported  by  the  numerous  immigrants  of  Slavic  origin 
(Huet,  Pensees  Diverses,  Paris,  1722),  but  in  Finland 
also  the  belief  is,  according  to  Castren,  almost  univer- 
sal, that  the  spirits  of  the  departed  have  the  power  to 
vex  and  torment  persons  in  their  sleep,  and  to  afflict 
them  with  sorrow  and  disease.  In  the  Sunda  and  Mo- 
lucca islands  genuine  vampirism  is  well  known,  and  the 
Dyaks  of  Borneo  also  believe  in  an  evil  spirit  who  sucks 
the  blood  of  living  persons  till  they  expire. 

Poland  and  Western  Russia  have,  however,  been  for 
two  centuries  the  stage  on  which  most  of  these  dread 
tragedies  have  occurred.  Men  and  women  were  re- 
ported to  have  been  seen  in  broad  daylight  sucking  the 
blood  of  men  and  beasts,  while  in  other  cases  dogs  and 
even  wolves  were  suspected  of  being  upires  or  vam- 
pires, as  blood-suckers  are  called  in  most  Slavic  dialects. 
The  terror  grew  as  these  reports  found  their  way  into 
newspapers  and  journals,  till  fear  drove  men  and 
women  to  resort  to  the  familiar  remedy  of  mixing 
blood  with  the  meal  used  for  their  bread ;  they  escaped 
not  by  any  healing  powers  inherent  in  the  horrid  mix- 
ture, but  thanks  to  the  faith  they  had  in  the  efficacy  of 
the  prescription  and  the  moral  courage  exhibited  in  its 
application.  To  prevent  the  spreading  of  the  epidemic 
the  bodies  of  the  vampires  were  disinterred,  and  when 


366  MODERN    MAGIC. 

found  bleeding,  were  decapitated  or  impaled  or  burned  in 
public.  In  some  parts  of  Hungary  the  disease  appeared 
in  the  shape  of  a  white  spectre  which  pursued  the 
patients;  they  declined  visibly  and  died  in  a  week  or  a 
fortnight.  It  was  mainly  in  this  country  that  physi- 
cians attending  the  disinterment  of  suspected  bodies 
noticed  the  presence  of  more  or  less  considerable  quan- 
tities of  blood,  which  was  still  fluid  and  actually  caused 
the  cheeks  to  look  reddish.  Some  of  the  witnesses  even 
thought  they  noticed  an  eifort  to  breathe,  faint  pulsa- 
tions, and  a  slight  change  of  features ;  these  were,  how- 
ever, evidently  nothing  more  than  the  effects  of  currents 
of  air  which  accompanied  the  opening  of  the  coffin.  It 
was  here  also  that  animals  were  first  believed  to  have 
been  attacked  by  vampires ;  cows  were .  found  early  in 
the  morning  bleeding  profusely  from  a  wound  at  the 
neck,  and  horses  standing  in  their  stalls  trembling, 
covered  with  white  foam,  and  so  thoroughly  terrified  as 
to  become  unfit  for  use. 

Another  period  of  excitement  due  to  accounts  of  vam- 
pirism comprised  the  middle  of  last  century,  when  all 
Europe  was  deeply  agitated  on  the  subject.  The  Em- 
peror of  Germany  and  other  monarchs  appointed  com- 
mittees of  learned  men  to  investigate  the  matter  ;  theo- 
logians and  skeptics,  philosophers  and  physicians,  took 
up  the  discussion,  and  hundreds  of  volumes  were  pub- 
lished on  the  mysterious  question,  but  no  satisfactory 
result  was  ever  obtained.  Many  declared  the  whole  a 
fable  or  merely  the  effect  of  diseased  imaginations, 


POSSESSION.  3C"7 

others  looked  upon  it  as  a  malignant  and  epidemic  dis- 
ease, and  not  a  few  as  the  unmistakable  work  of  the 
devil.    Learned  men  searched  the  writings  of  antiquity, 
and  soon  found  more  traces  of  the  fearful  disease  than 
they  had  expected.     They  discovered  that  in  Thessaly, 
Epirus,  and  some  parts  of  the  Pieria,  men  were  reported 
by  ancient  writers  as  wandering  about  at  night  and 
tearing  all  whom  they  met  to  pieces.    The  Lamiae  of 
the  Greeks  and  the  Strigae  of  the  Komans  evidently  be- 
longed to  the  same  category,  while  the  later  Tympanites 
of  the  Greeks  were  persons  who  had  died  while  under 
the  ban  of  the  church  and  were  therefore  doomed  to 
become  vampires.      The  Slavic  population  of  Moravia 
and  Bohemia  was  in  those  days  especially  rich  in  instan- 
ces of  vampirism,  and  so  many  occurred  in  Hungary 
that  the  Emperor  Charles  IV.  intrusted -the  investiga- 
tion of  the  matter  to  a  prince  of  Wurtemberg,  before 
whom  a  number  of  cases  were  fully  authenticated.    Men 
who  had  died  years  before,  were  seen  to  return  to  their 
former  homes,  some  in  the  daytime,  some  at  night,  and 
the  following  morning   those  whom  they  had  visited 
were  found  dead  and  weltering  in  their  blood.     In  a 
single  village  seventeen  persons  died  thus  within  three 
months,  and  in  many  instances,  when  bodies  were  dis- 
interred, they  were  found  looking  quite  alive.    At  this 
time  the  Sorbonne  at  Paris  also  took  up  the  subject,  but 
came  to  no  conclusion,  save  that  they  disapproved  of 
the  practice  of  disinterring  bodies,  "  because  vampires, 
us    cataleptics,  might  be  restored  to  life  by  bleeding  or 


368  MODERN    MAGIC. 

magnetic  treatment,"  according  to  the  opinion  of  the 
learned  Dr.  Pierard.     (Revue  Spirit.,  iv.) 

Here  we  come  at  last  to  the  grain  of  truth  around 
which  this  mass  of  popular  superstition  has  gradually 
accumulated,  and  the  ignorance  of  which  has  caused 
hundreds  of  innocent  human  beings  to  die  a  miserable 
death.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  cases  of  "suspended 
animation  "  or  apparent  death  have  alone  given  rise  to 
the  whole  series  of  fearful  tales  of  vampirism.  The 
very  words  of  a  recital  belonging  to  the  times,  and  to 
the  districts  where  vampirism  was  prevalent,  prove  the 
force  of  this  supposition.  Erasmus  Francisci  states 
that,  in  the  duchy  of  Krain,  a  man  was  buried  and 
then  suspected  of  being  a  vampire.  When  disinterred 
his  face  was  found  rosy,  and  his  features  moved  as  if 
they  attempted  to  smile;  even  his  lips  opened  as  if 
gasping  for  air.  A  crucifix  was  held  before  his  eyes  and 
a  priest  called  out  with  a  loud  voice:  "Peace!  This  is 
Jesus  Christ  who  has  rescued  thy  soul  from  the  tor- 
ment of  hell,  and  suffered  death  for  thee ! "  The  sound 
seemed  to  penetrate  to  his  ear,  and  slowly  a  few  tears 
began  to  trickle  down  his  cheeks.  After  a  short  prayer 
for  his  poor  soul,  his  head  was  ordered  to  be  cut  off;  a 
suppressed  cry  was  heard,  the  body  turned  over  as  if 
still  alive,  and  when  the  head  was  severed  a  quantity  of 
blood  ran  into  the  grave.  It  was  as  clear  a  case  of  a 
living  man  who  had  been  buried  before  death  as  has 
ever  been  authenticated.  Ivor  are  such  cases  as  rare  as 
is  popularly  believed.  High  authorities  assure  us  that, 


POSSESSION.  369 

for  instance,  after  imperfect  poisoning,  in  several  kinds 
of  suffocation,  and  in  cases  of  new-born  children  who  be- 
come suddenly  chilled,  a  state  of  body  is  produced  which 
presents  all  the  symptoms  of  complete  suspension  of  the 
functions  of  life.  Such  apparent  death  is,  according  to 
the  same  high  medical  authority,  a  period  of  complete 
rest,  based  upon  a  suspension  of  the  activity  of  the 
heart,  the  lungs,  and  all  spontaneous  functions,  extend- 
ing frequently  to  the  sense  of  touch,  and  the  intellect 
even.  At  the  same  time  the  natural  heat  of  the  body 
sinks  until  it  seems  to  have  disappeared  altogether. 
The  duration  of  this  exceptional  state  is  uncertain,  at 
times  the  patient  awakes  suddenly,  and  in  full  posses- 
sion of  all  his  faculties ;  in  other  cases  external  means 
have  to  be  employed  to  restore  life.  Among  many  well- 
authenticated  cases  of  this  kind,  two  of  special  interest 
are  mentioned  by  Dr.  Mayo.  Cardinal  Espinosa,  the 
minister  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  died  after  a  short  period 
of  suffering.  His  rank  required  that  he  should  be  em- 
balmed, and  his  body  was  opened  for  the  purpose.  At 
the  moment  when  lung  and  heart  were  laid  open  to  view, 
the  surgeon  observed  that  the  latter  was  still  beating, 
and  the  Cardinal,  awaking,  had  actually  strength 
enough  to  seize  with  his  hand  the  knife  of  the  operator. 
The  other  case  is  that  of  a  well-known  French  writer, 
the  Abbe  Prevost,  who  fell  down  dead  in  the  forest  of 
Chantilly.  His  apparently  lifeless  body  was  found, 
and  carried  to  a  priest's  house  in  the  neighborhood. 
The  surgeon  ascribed  his  death  to  apoplexy;  but  the 

16* 


370  MODERN    MAGIC. 

authorities  ordered  a  kind  of  coroner's  inquest,  and  the 
body  was  opened.  During  the  operation  the  Abbe 
suddenly  uttered  a  cry  of  anguish — but  it  was  too 
late ! 

If  a  certain  number  of  such  cases  of  apparent  death 
has  really  given  rise  to  the  faith  in  yampirism,  then  it 
is  equally  possible  to  suppose,  that  this  kind  of  trance — 
for  which  there  may  exist  a  special  predisposition  in  one 
or  the  other  race — may  become  at  times  epidemic.  Per- 
sons of  peculiar  nervousness  will  be  ready  to  be  affected, 
and  a  locality  in  which  this  has  occurred  may  soon 
obtain  an  unenviable  reputation.  Even  where  the 
epidemic  does  not  appear  in  full  force,  a  disturbed  state 
of  the  nervous  system  will  be  apt  to  lead  to  dreams  by 
night,  and  to  gossip  in  the  daytime,  on  the  fatally 
attractive  subject,  and  the  patient  will  soon  dream,  or 
really  imagine,  that  a  person  who  has  died  of  the  dis- 
ease has  appeared  to  him  by  night,  and  drawn  his 
strength  from  him,  or,  in  his  excited  fancy,  sucked  his 
life's  blood.  By  such  means  even  the  popular  way  of 
speaking  of  nocturnal  visits  made  by  the  "vampire's 
ghost "  is  not  so  entirely  unfounded  as  would  appear  at 
first  sight,  and  the  superstition  is  easily  shown  to  be 
not  altogether  absurd,  but  to  be  based  upon  a  small 
substructure  of  actual  truth. 

It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  the  Germanic  race 
has  never  furnished  any  instances  of  vampirism, 
although  their  ancient  faith  in  a  Walhalla,  where  their 
departed  heroes  feast  sumptuously,  and  their  custom  to 
place  food  in  the  graves  of  their  friends  would  have 


POSSESSION.  371 

seemed  most  likely  to  reconcile  them  to  the  idea   that 
men  continue  to  live  in  their  graves. 

How  sadly  persistent,  on  the  other  hand,  such  super- 
stitions are  among  the  lower  races,  and  in  specially 
ignorant  communities,  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that,  as  late  as  1861,  two  corpses  were  disinterred  by  the 
peasants  of  a  village  of  Galicia,  and  decapitated.  The 
people  believed  them  to  be  vampires,  and  to  have  caused 
a  long-protracted  spell  of  bad  weather ! 

ZOAXTHROPY. 

Even  more  fearful  yet  than  vampirism  is  the  disease, 
very  common  already  in  the  days  of  antiquity,  which 
makes  men  think  that  they  have  changed  into  beasts, 
and  then  act  as  such,  according  to  the  logic  of  insanity. 
Petronius  is  probably  the  first  to  mention,  in  his  "  Feast 
of  Trimalchio,"  a  case  of  lycanthropy,  when  Niceros  re- 
lates how  some  one  who  was  journeying  with  him  threw 
off  his  garments,  changed  into  a  wolf  and  ran  away  into 
the  forest.  When  he  returned  home,  his  account  con- 
tinues, he  found  that  a  wolf  had  fallen  upon  his  flock, 
but  had  been  wounded  by  a  servant  in  the  neck  with  a 
lance.  Thereupon  he  goes  to  inquire  after  his  fellow- 
traveler,  and  finds  him  sick  in  bed  with  a  physician  by 
his  side,  who  binds  up  an  ugly  wound  in  his  neck. 
The  well-known  writer  took  this  episode  from  the  Ar- 
cadians, a  rude  nation  of  shepherds,  whose  flocks  were 
frequently  attacked  by  wolves,  and  among  whom  stories 
of  men  changed  into  wild  beasts,  were  quite  current. 


372  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Nor  must  we  forget,  among  historic  personages,  the 
daughter  of  King  Prcetus  of  Argos,  who  believed  her- 
self changed  into  a  cow ;  and  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  who 
according  to  his  own  touching  account  "  was  driven 
from  meat,  did  eat  grass  as  oxen,  and  his  body  was  wet 
with  the  dew  of  heaven,  till  his  hairs  were  grown  like 
eagle's  feathers,  and  his  nails  like  bird's  claws."  (Dan- 
iel iv.  33.)  The  early  days  of  Christianity  are  naturally 
full  of  incidents  of  this  kind,  but  what  is  remarkable, 
zoanthropy  was  then  already  treated  as  a  mere  delusion. 
The  holy  man  Macarius  once  saw  a  large  procession 
approaching  his  hermitage  in  Egypt ;  it  was  headed  by 
11  number  of  persons  who  led  a  large  and  imposing- 
looking  woman  by  a  bridle,  and  followed  by  a  crowd  of 
people  of  all  ages.  When  they  came  near  they  told  his 
disciples  that  the  woman  had  been  changed  into  a  mare, 
and  had  thus  remained  for  three  days  and  nights  with- 
out food — would  the  saint  pray  over  her  and  restore 
her  to  her  natural  condition  ?  The  delusion  was  so 
forcibly  contagious  that  the  disciples  also  forthwith 
saw  a  mare,  and  not  a  woman,  and  refused  to  admit 
the  animal  to  the  presence  of  the  hermit !  Fortunately 
the  latter  had  retained  his  self-control ;  he  rebuked  his 
followers,  saying :  "  You  are  the  real  beasts,  that  imag- 
ine you  see  something  which  does  not  exist.  This 
woman  has  not  been  changed,  but  your  eyes  are  deluded." 
Then  he  poured  holy  water  over  her,  and  at  once 
everybody  saw  her  once  more  in  her  natural  shape.  He 
dismissed  her  and  her  escort  with  the  words:  "Cfo 


POSSESSION.  373 

more  frequently  to  church  and  take  the  holy  sac- 
rament; then  you  will  escape  such  fearful  punishment." 
During  the  Middle  Ages  a  similar  disease  existed  in 
many  parts  of  Europe ;  men  were  changed  into  dogs  or 
wolves,  sometimes  as  a  divine  punishment  for  great 
crimes,  at  other  times  in  consequence  of  a  delusion  pro- 
duced by  Satan.  Such  unfortunate  men  walked  on  all 
fours,  attacked  men  and  beasts,  but  especially  children, 
killed  and  devoured  them.  They  actually  terrified  many 
people  into  believing  as  confidently  in  this  delusion  as 
they  believed  in  it  themselves !  For  this  is  one  of  the 
specially  fearful  magic  phenomena  of  zoanthropy  that 
it  is  apt  to  produce  in  healthy  persons  the  same  delu- 
sion as  in  the  sufferer.  Many  cases  also  are  recorded  of 
persons  lying  in  deep  sleep,  produced  by  narcotic  oint- 
ments, who,  seeing  visions,  fancied  that  they  were 
acting  like  wolves.  In  the  year  1598  such  a  disease 
raged  as  an  epidemic  in  the  Jura  mountains,  till  the 
French  Parliament  determined  to  make  an  end  of  it  by 
treating  all  the  afflicted  either  as  insane  or  as  persons 
possessed  by  the  devil  and  therefore  deserving  instant 
death.  Among  Slavic  nations  and  the  Magyars  lycan- 
thropy  is  so  closely  connected  with  vampirism  that  it  is 
not  always  easy  to  draw  the  line  between  the  two  dis- 
eases. There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  it  is  mere- 
ly a  variety  of  possession,  arising  from  the  same  tin- 
happy  state  in  which  dualism  is  developed  in  the  soul, 
and  two  wills  contend  with  each  other  for  superiority  to 
the  grievous  injury  of  mind  and  body.  The  only  dis- 


374  MODERN    MAGIC. 

tinctive  feature  is  this,  that  in  lycanthropy  not  only  the 
functions  of  the  brains  but  also  those  of  the  skin  are 
disordered,  and  hence  an  impression  arises  that  the  lat- 
ter is  hairy  and  shaggy  after  the  manner  of  wild 
beasts. 

The  German  Wahrwolf  (were-wolf  or  man-wolf)  is 
the  same  as  the  lycanthropos  of  the  Scythians  and 
Greeks  and  the  versipellis  of  the  Eomans ;  he  was  in 
German  mythology  connected  with  Woden.  Hence, 
probably,  the  readiness  with  which  the  disease  during 
the  Middle  Ages  took  hold  of  the  minds  of  Germans ; 
but  at  that  period  nearly  all  the  nations  of  Europe 
firmly  believed  in  the  reality  of  such  changes. 

As  late  even  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury cases  of  this  kind  occurred  in  France,  where  the 
possessed  were  known  as  loups-garoux.  A  young  man 
of  Besangon  was  thus  brought  before  the  Councilor  of 
State,  De  VAncre,  at  Bordeaux,  and  accused  of  roving 
like  a  wild  animal  through  the  neighboring  forests.  He 
confessed  readily  that  he  was  a  huntsman  in  the  service 
of  his  invisible  master,  the  devil,  who  had  changed  him 
into  a  wolf  and  forced  him  to  range  by  the  side  of 
another  more  powerful  wolf  through  the  country.  The 
poor  fellow  shared  the  usual  fate  of  his  fellow-sufferers, 
who  were  either  subjected  to  a  sharp  treatment  of  exor- 
cism or  simply  executed  as  heretical  criminals. 

In  our  day  lycauthropy  is  almost  entirely  limited  to 
Servia  and  Wallachia,  Volhynia  and  White  Russia. 
There,  however,  the  disease  breaks  out  frequently  anew, 


POSSESSION".  375 

and  popular  belief  knows  a  variety  of  means  by  which 
a  man  may  be  changed  into  a  wolf;  the  animal  differs, 
however,  from  a  genuine  wolf  in  his  docked  tail  and  his 
marked  preference  for  the  blood  of  young  children. 

In  Abyssinia  there  exists,  according  to  Pearce,  a  be- 
lief that  men  are  occasionally  changed  into  hyenas — the 
wolves  of  that  country — but  this  sad  privilege  is  limit- 
ed to  workers  in  clay  and  iron,  called  Booda  among  the 
Amharas,  who  wear  a  gold  earring  of  special  form  as  a 
distinction  from  other  inferior  castes. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that,  like  all  other  varieties  of 
possession,  zoanthropy  also  is  simply  a  kind  of  insanity, 
and  our  amusement  at  the  marvelous  conduct  of  were- 
wolves will  vanish,  if  we  recall  the  entire  change  pro- 
duced in  man  by  the  loss  of  reason.  In  that  sad  condi- 
tion he  endures  fatigue,  cold  or  heat,  and  hunger  as  no 
healthy  man  ever  can  learn  to  do ;  he  does  not  mind 
the  severest  castigation,  for  his  body  is  almost  insensi- 
ble, it  ceases  to  be  susceptible  to  contagious  diseases  and 
requires,  in  sickness,  double  or  treble  doses  of  medi- 
cine. If  we  once  know  the  precise  nature  of  an  insane 
person's  hallucination,  his  actions  will  be  apt  to  appear 
quite  consistent,  and  thus  lycanthropy  also  not  only 
produces  the  fine  connection  of  a  change  into  a  wolf, 
but  causes  the  sufferer  to  conduct  himself  in  all  his 
ways  like  the  animal  which  he  represents. 


VIII. 
MAGNETISM. 

"Great  is  tlie  power  of  the  hand." — 

ST.  AUGUSTINE,  Op.,  iv.  487. 

MESMER,  who  was  the  first  to  make  the  anaesthetic 
effects  of  certain  passages  of  the  hand  over  the  bodies 
of  patients  known  to  the  public,  sought  originally  to 
explain  them  by  the  agency  of  electricity;  but  as  early 
in  1773  he  ascribed  them  to  magnetism.  From  that  day 
he  employed  magnets,  and  by  passing  them  over  the 
affected  parts  of  his  patients,  he  performed  remarkable 
cures  for  many  years  in  the  city  of  Vienna.  He  looked 
upon  the  magnet  as  the  physician,  which  cured  the 
patient  in  the  same  way  in  which  it  attracted  iron. 
Soon  after,  however,  he  became  acquainted  with  the 
famous  Father  Eassner,  of  Eatisbon,  who  had  obtained 
precisely  the  same  results,  without  a  magnet,  by  simple 
manipulations,  and,  henceforth,  he  also  treated  his 
patients  with  the  hand  only;  but  he  retained  the  old 
name,  looking  now  upon  himself,  and  others  who  were 
endowed  in  the  same  manner,  as  possessing  the  powers 
of  a  strong  magnet.  In  the  meantime  one  of  his 
pupils,  the  Marquis  de  Puysegur,  had  quite  accidentally 
discovered  the  peculiar  nature  of  somnambulism,  and 


MAGNETISM.  377 

with  rare  foresight  profited  by  the  moments  of  clear 
consciousness  which  at  times  interrupted  the  trance,  in 
order  to  learn  from  his  patients  themselves  the  means 
of  curing  their  diseases.  He  had  from  that  moment 
devoted  all  the  leisure  of  his  life  to  the  study  of  these 
singular  but  most  beneficial  phenomena,  employing 
only  the  simplest  manipulations  in  place  of  the  more 
exciting  means  used  by  Mesmer,  and  doing  an  immense 
amount  of  good  by  his  judicious  cures. 

Mesmer,  in  the  course  of  time,  adopted  the  better 
method  of  his  former  pupil,  and  now  his  system  was 
complete.  He  used  magnetism  for  purely  practical 
purposes :  he  cured  diseases  by  throwing  well-qualified 
persons  into  the  peculiar  sleep  produced  by  magnetizing 
them,  and  availed  himself  of  the  effects  of  this  half- 
sleep  upon  tlieir  varied  constitutions,  for  his  curative 
purposes.  At  the  same  time,  however,  he  ascribed  the 
influence  which  he  claimed  to  have  over  persons  whom 
he  had  thus  magnetized,  to  a  most  delicate,  all-pervad- 
ing medium ;  this,  he  maintained,  was  the  sole  cause  of 
motion,  light,  heat,  and  life  itself  in  the  universe,  and 
this  he  stated  he  was  communicating  by  his  process  of 
magnetizing  in  a  sufficient  degree  to  his  patients  to  pro- 
duce startling  but  invariably  beneficial  results.  It  is 
well  known  how  his  removal  from  Vienna,  where  he 
had  begun  his  remarkable  career,  to  Paris,  increased  in 
almost  equal  proportions  the  number  of  enthusiastic 
admirers,  and  of  bitter  adversaries.  In  spite  of  an  un- 
favorable judgment  rendered  by  a  committee  of  the 


378  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Academy  in  1784,  his  new  doctrines  spread  rapidly 
through  all  the  provinces ;  so-called  Harmonic  Societies 
were  formed  in  almost  every  town,  and  numerous  insti- 
tutions sprang  up  founded  upon  the  new  system  of 
magnetizing  patients.  It  is  curious  that  of  the  nine 
members  of  that  committee,  among  whom  Franklin 
was  not  the  least  renowned,  only  one,  the  great  savant 
Jussieu,  refused  to  sign  the  report  "because  it  was 
founded  upon  a  few  isolated  facts,"  and  sent  in  a  sepa- 
rate memoir,  in  which  he  described  animal  heat  as  the 
universal  agent  of  life.  Equally  curious  objections 
were  made  by  others;  thus  in  another  report  of  the 
Academy,  the  king  was  requested  to  prohibit  the  prac- 
tice of  magnetism,  because  it  was  "  dangerous  to  the 
morals  of  the  people,"  and  in  the  great  hospital  of  the 
Charite,  magnetic  treatment  was  forbidden,  because 
"  the  new  system  had  caused  for  a  long  time  warm  dis- 
cussions between  the  best  informed  men  of  science ! " 
Urged  by  repeated  petitions,  the  Academy  appointed,  in 
1825,  a  second  committee  to  investigate  the  matter, 
which  finally  reported  a  firm  conviction  of  the  genuine- 
ness and  efficacy  of  magnetism,  and  recommended  a 
further  examination  of  this  important  branch  of  psy- 
chology and  natural  science.  A  permanent  committee 
was  thereupon  directed  to  take  charge  of  the  matter, 
before  which  a  very  large  number  of  important  facts 
Avere  authenticated ;  but  in  1840,  and  subsequently, 
once  more,  unfavorable  reports  were  laid  before  the 
august  body  and  adopted  by  small  majorities. 


MAGNETISM.  379 

In  Euglaud  magnetism  met  with  fierce  and  violent 
opposition,  the  faculty  being  no  little  incensed  by  this 
new  and  unexpected  competitor  for  fees  and  reputation. 
Dr.  Elliotson,  a  professor  in  the  University  of  London, 
and  director  of  a  large  hospital,  had  actually  to  give  up 
his  place,  because  of  the  hostility  engendered  by  his  ad- 
vocacy of  the  new  doctrine.  Afterwards  the  controversy, 
though  by  no  means  less  bitter,  was  carried  on  with 
more  courtesy,  and  the  subject  received,  on  the  whole, 
all  the  attention  it  deserved.  Germany  alone  has  legally 
sanctioned  magnetism  as  a  scientific  method  within  the 
range  of  the  healing  art,  and  the  leading  powers,  like 
Prussia,  Austria,  and  Saxony,  have  admitted  its  practice 
in  public  hospitals.  Unfortunately,  much  deception 
and  imposture  appeared  from  the  beginning  in  company 
with  the  numerous  genuine  cases,  and  led  many  eminent 
men  to  become  skeptics.  The  Eussian  government  has 
limited  the  permission  to  practice  by  magnetic  cure  to 
"'•'  well-informed  "  physicians ;  but  the  Holy  Curia,  the 
pope's  authority,  after  admitting  magnetism,  first  as  a 
well-established  fact,  has  subsequently  prohibited  it  by 
a  decree  of  the  Inquisition  (21st  April,  1841)  as  con- 
ducive to  "  infidelity  and  immorality."  In  spite  of  all 
these  obstacles,  magnetism,  in  its  various  branches  of 
somnambulism  and  clairvoyance,  of  mesmerism  and 
hypnotism,  is  universally  acknowledged  as  a  valuable 
doctrine,  and  has  led  to  the  publication  of  a  copious 
literature. 

Maguetizers  claim — and  not  without  some  show  of 


380  MODERN   MAGIC. 

reason — that  their  art  was  not  unknown  to  antiquity, 
and  is  especially  referred  to  in  Holy  "Writ.  They  rest 
their  claim  upon  the  importance  which  has  from  time 
immemorial  been  ascribed  to  the  action  of  the  hand 
as  producing  visions  and  imparting  the  gift  of 
prophecy.  "When  Elisha  was  called  upon  to  predict  the 
issue  of  the  war  against  Moab,  he  sent  for  a  minstrel, 
"and  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  minstrel  played,  that 
the  hand  of  the  Lord  came  upon  him."  (2  Kings  iii. 
15.)  In  like  manner  "the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon 
Ezekiel"  among  the  captives  by  the  river  of  Cheber  and 
he  prophesied  (Ezekiel  i.  3) ;  years  after  he  says  again : 
"  The  hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  me  in  the  evening  " 
(xxxiii.  22),  and  once  more  :  "the  hand  of  the  Lord  was 
upon  me"  (xl.  1).  It  is  evident  that  according  to  bib- 
lical usage  in  these  cases  the  manner  of  acting  attributed 
to  God  is  described  after  the  usage  prevailing  among 
men,  and  that  the  "hand  upon  men"  represented  the 
usual  method  of  causing  them  to  fall  into  a  trance. 
But  this  placing  the  hand  upon  a  person  was  by  no 
means  confined  to  cases  of  visions ;  it  was  employed  also 
in  blessings  and  in  sacrifices,  in  consecrations  and 
miraculous  cures.  Daniel  felt  a  hand  touching  him, 
which  "set  me  upon  my  knees  and  the  palms  of  my 
hands"  (Dan.  x.  10),  while  soon  after  the  same  hand 
"strengthened  him"  (17) ;  and  even  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment a  high  privilege  is  expressed  by  the  words  :  "The 
hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  him.  (Luke  i.  66.)  In  other 
cases  a  finger  is  substituted  for  the  hand,  as  when  the 


MAGNETISM.  381 

magicians  of  Pharaoh  said :  "  This  is  the  finger  of  God  " 
(Exodus  viii.  19),  and  the  two  tables  of  testimony  are 
said  to  have  been  "written  with  the  finger  of  God" 
(Exodus  xxxi.  18) ;  in  the  same  manner  Christ  said : 
"If  I  with  the  finger  of  God  cast  out  devils."  (Luke  xi. 
20.)  What  makes  this  reference  to  finger  and  hand  in 
Eastern  magic  and  in  biblical  language  peculiarly  in- 
teresting is  the  fact  that  neither  Greeks  nor  Romans 
ever  referred  in  like  manner  to  such  an  agency.  It  is 
evident  that  these  nations,  possessing  the  ancient  wis- 
dom of  the  East  and  the  revealed  knoAvledge  of  the 
chosen  people,  were  alone  fully  acquainted  with  the 
power  which  the  hand  of  man  can  exercise  under  pecu- 
liar circumstances,  and  hence  looked  upon  it  in  God 
also,  as  the  instrument  by  which  visions  were  caused 
and  miracles  performed.  Hence,  no  doubt,  also  the 
mysterious  hand,  which  from  time  immemorial  has  been 
used  as  one  of  the  emblems  of  supreme  power,  often 
called  the  hand  of  justice,  but  evidently  emblematic  of 
the  "  hand  of  God,"  which  rests  upon  the  monarch  who 
rules  "by  the  grace  of  God."  Magnetizers  connect  all 
these  uses  made  of  the  hand  with  their  own  method, 
which  consists  almost  invariably  in  certain  passes  made 
with  the  whole  hand  or  with  one  or  more  fingers. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  this  connection  between 
the  meaning  of  the  "hand"  in  biblical  language,  and 
the  magnetism  of  our  day,  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to 
the  fact  that  the  ancients  were  already  quite  familiar 
with  the  phenomena  which  have  startled  our  century  as 


882  MODEKX    MAGIC. 

something  entirely  new.  The  so-called  temple-sleep 
of  the  Greeks  was  almost  identical  with  modern 
somnambulism ;  the  only  essential  difference  being 
that  then  the  gods  of  Olympus  were  seen,  and  lent  their 
assistance,  in  the  place  of  the  saints  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  the  mediums  of  our  own  day.  Incense,  mineral 
waters,  narcotic  herbs,  and  decoctions  of  Strychnos  or 
Halicacabum,  were,  according  to  Pliny,  employed  to 
produce  the  peculiar  sleep.  ("  Hist.  Nat."  1.  xxi.  ch.  31.) 
The  patients  fell  asleep  while  lying  on  the  skins  of 
recently  killed  animals  in  the  Temples  of  ^Esculapius, 
and  other  beneficent  deities,  and  in  their  sleep  hud 
dreams  with  revelations  prescribing  the  proper  remedies. 
The  priests  also,  sometimes,  dreamt  for  their  visitors — 
for  a  consideration — or,  at  least,  interpreted  the  dreams 
of  others.  Even  magnetism  by  touch  was  perfectly 
familiar  to  the  ancients,  as  appears  from  words  of 
Plautus  :  "  Quid,  si  ego  ilium  tract  im  tang  am,  ut 
dormiat  ?  (What  if  I  were  to  touch  him  at  intervals 
so  that  he  should  fall  asleep  ?)  Plutarch  even  speaks 
of  magnetizing  by  touching  with  the  feet,  as  practised 
by  Pyrrhus.  Other  writers  discovered  that  the  Sibyls 
of  Eome,  as  well  as  the  Druids  of  the  Celts,  had  been 
nothing  more  than  well-trained  somnambulists,  and  ere 
long  distinct  traces  of  similar  practices  were  found  in 
the  annals  of  the  Egyptians  also. 

One  of  the  earliest  cases,  which  was  thoroughly 
investigated,  and  carefully  watched,  is  reported  by  Dr. 
Petetin,  of  Lyon,  in  his  famous  "  Memoir  on  Catalepsy 


MAGNETISM.  383 

and  Somnambulism."  (Lyon,  1787.)  His  patient  was  a 
lady  who  had  nursed  her  child  with  such  utter  disregard 
of  her  own  health  that  her  whole  system  was  under- 
mined. After  an  attack  of  most  violent  convulsions, 
accompanied  with  apparent  madness,  she  suddenly 
began  to  laugh  to  utter  a  number  of  clever  and  witty 
sayings,  and  finally  broke  out  into  beautiful  songs ;  but 
a  terrible  cough  with  hemorrhages  ended  the  crisis. 
Similar  attacks  occurred  with  increasing  frequency, 
during  which  she  could  read,  with  closed  eyes,  what  was 
placed  in  her  hand,  state  hour  and  minute  on  a  watch 
by  merely  touching  the  crystal,  and  mention  the  con- 
tents of  the  pockets  of  bystanders.  She  stated  that  she 
saw  these  things  with  varied  distinctness;  some  clearly, 
others  as  through  a  mist,  and  still  others  only  by  a 
great  effort.  The  reporter  expresses  his  belief  that  the 
stomach  in  this  case  performed  all  the  functions  of  the 
senses,  and  that  the  epidermis,  with  its  network  of  fine 
nerves,  acted  in  place  of  the  usual  organs.  Petetin  was 
also  the  first  to  enter  into  direct  relations  with  his  som- 
nambulist; he  could  induce  her  at  will  to  become 
clairvoyant,  and  make  himself  understood  by  her  when- 
ever he  directed  his  voice  toward  the  only  sensitive  part. 
Gradually,  however,  it  was  discovered  that  the  degree 
of  close  communication  (rapport]  between  the  two  par- 
ties depended  as  largely  on  the  correspondence  of 
character  between  them  as  on  the  energy  of  will  in  the 
magnetizer  and  the  power  of  imagination  possessed  by 
the  patient.  Deleuse,  one  of  the  professors  of  the 


384  MODE11N    MAGIC. 

Jar  din  des  Plantes,  in  Paris,  gave  much  attention  to 
the  subject,  and  iu  his  numerous  publications  main- 
tained the  existence  of  a  magnetic  fluid  by  the  side  of 
the  superior  power  with  which  some  men  are  endowed, 
and  that  both  were  employed  in  influencing  others. 
He  was  frequently,  and  violently,  attacked  on  the  score 
of  his  convictions,  especially  after  several  cases  of  cun- 
ning deception  had  become  known.  For  very  soon  the 
innate  desire  for  notoriety  led  many  persons  to  pretend 
somnambulism,  and  skillfully  to  imitate  the  phenomena 
of  clairvoyance,  displaying,  as  is  not  unfrequently  the 
case,  in  these  efforts  a  skill  and  a  perseverance  which 
would  have  secured  them  great  success  in  any  legitimate 
enterprise.  A  number  of  volumes  appeared,  mostly  in 
Germany,  professing  to  contain  accounts  of  marvelous 
cures  achieved  by  magnetism,  which  upon  examination 
proved  to  be  altogether  fictitious.  France,  however, 
abounded  more  than  any  other  country  with  impostors, 
and  every  kind  of  deception  and  cheating  was  carried 
on  there,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  under  the 
cloak  of  mesmerism.  Young  girls,  stimulated  by  large 
rewards,  and  well  trained  by  hospital  surgeons,  would 
submit  to  brutal  treatment,  and  profess  to  reveal,  dur- 
ing well-simulated  trances,  infallible  remedies  for 
grievous  diseases.  The  followers  of  Mesmer  degraded 
his  art  by  making  it  a  merry  pastime  or  a  lucrative 
exhibition,  without  regard  to  truthfulness,  and  without 
reverence  for  science.  Even  political  intriguers,  and 
financial  speculators,  availed  themselves  of  the  new 


MAGNETISM.  385 

discovery ;  precisely  as  in  our  day  spirit-rapping  and 
kindred  tricks  are  used.  In  England,  and  in  the 
Union,  mesmerism  fared  little  better;  especially  with 
us,  it  soon  fell  into  the  hands  of  quacks  and  charlatans 
who  made  it  a  source  of  profit ;  at  the  same  time  it 
assumed  various  new  names,  as,  electro-biology,  hypno- 
tism, and  others. 

The  idea  that  somnambulism  was  the  effect  of  angelic 
or  demoniac  influences  was  once  largely  entertained, 
but  has  long  since  given  way  to  more  scientific  views. 
But  it  cannot  be  Said  that  the  true  nature  of  the  active 
principle  has  yet  been  fully  ascertained,  and  so  far  the 
results  of  mesmerism  must  be  classed  among  magic 
phenomena.  What  is  alone  clearly  established  is  the 
power  which  the  strong  will  of  the  magnetizer  evident- 
ly exercises  over  the  patient,  and  the  fact  that  this  en- 
ergy acts  through  the  hands  as  its  organs.  The  patient, 
on  his  side,  undergoes  by  such  an  exercise  of  a  foreign 
will  a  complete  change  of  his  individuality ;  the  action 
of  his  bruin  is  modified  and  he  falls  into  magnetic 
sleep.  Many  intelligent  somnambulists  have  distinctly 
stated  that  they  obey  the  will  of  their  master  and  not 
his  hands;  that  manipulation,  in  fact,  merely  serves  to 
communicate  this  will  to  their  inner  sense.  Whether 
the  connection  which  evidently  exists  between  the  two 
parties  is  established  merely  for  moral  agencies  or  by  an 
infinitely  subtle  fluid,  which  may  possibly  be  the  Od  of 
Baron  Reichenbach — this  question  remains  as  yet  un- 
decided. So  much  only  is  quite  certain  that  neither  the 

17 


386  MODKRX    MAGIC. 

Avill  alone  suffices. to  produce  the  magic  phenomena  of 
magnetism,  nor  heat  and  electricity,  as  the  physicist 
Parrot  maintained  ;  as  little  can  electro-magnetism,  un- 
aided, be  the  cause  of  such  results,  though  the  great 
Robiano  stoutly  asserted  its  power ;  man  is  a  dualism 
of  spirit  and  body,  and  both  must  be  influenced  alike 
and  together,  in  order  to  obtain  perfect  mastery.  The 
most  plausible  explanation  yet  offered  by  men  of  science 
is,  that  by  the  will  of  the  magnetizer  his  own  nervous 
and  mental  system  assumes  a  certain  condition  which 
changes  that  of  the  subject  into  one  "of  opposite  polar- 
ity, paralyzes  some  of  his  cerebral  functions  and  causes 
him  to  fall  into  a  state  resembling  sleep.  The  stronger 
and  healthier  man  affects  the  nervous  system  of  a  fee- 
ble and  less  healthy  man  according  to  his  own  more  or 
less  strongly  marked  individuality,  and  the  spiritual  in- 
fluence naturally  develops  itself  in  the  same  proportions 
as  the  material  influence.  Hence  the  thoughts  and 
feelings,  the  convictions  and  the  faith  of  the  magnetizer 
are  reflected  upon  the  mind  of  his  subject.  Even 
Mcsmer  himself  had  not. yet  reached  this  point;  he 
was,  up  to  his  death,  content  to  ascribe  the  .power  of 
the  magnetizer  to  the  waves  of  an  universal  fluid  set  in 
motion  by  the  superior  energy  of  specially  endowed 
persons.  According  to  his  doctrine  thoughts  were  con- 
veyed by  means  of  this  mysterious  fluid  in  precisely 
the  same  manner  in  which  light  and  sound  are  borne 
onward  on  the  waves  of  the  air  that  surrounds  us. 
They  proceed  from  the  brain  and  the  nerves  of  one 


MAGNETISM.  387 

person  and  reach  those  of  another  person  in  this  imper- 
ceptible manner;  to  dispatch  them  on  their  errand,  vo- 
lition is  required ;  to  receive  them,  willingness  and  a 
certain  natural  predisposition,  since  there  are  men  inca- 
pable of  being  reached  in  this  way,  as  there  are  others 
who  are  deprived  of  sight  or  hearing.  As  the  convey- 
ing fluid  is  far  more  subtle  than  the  thinnest  air,  per- 
meates the  whole  universe  and  bears  a  close  resemblance 
to  the  fluid  which  sets  our  nerves  in  motion,  there  is 
no  other  limit  to  the  effects  of  volition  on  the  part  of 
the  so-called  magnetizer  than  the  strength  of  his  will. 
If  he  possesses  this  in  a  sufficiently  high  degree,  he  can 
affect  those  who  are  subject  to  his  superiority  even  at 
the  greatest  distance.  Moreover,  if  his  influence  is 
sufficiently  effective  the  somnambulist  acquires  new  and 
heretofore  unknown  powers;  he  sees  the  interior  of  his 
own  body,  recognizes  its  defects  and  diseases,  and  by  a 
newly-awakened  instinct,  perceives  what  is  necessary  to 
restore  its  perfect  order.  Such  were  the  views  of  Mes- 
mer. 

Besides  this  theory  a  number  of  others  have  been  pub- 
lished from  time  to  time,  by  men  of  science  of  almost  all 
countries — even  modern  philosophers,  like  the  German 
Schopenhauer,  having  entered  the  lists  in  defense  of 
their  favorite  ideas.  The  most  striking  view  published 
in  recent  times,  is  found  in  the  works  of  Count  Eobiano, 
a  learned  abbe  and  a  brilliantly  successful  magnetizer. 
He  ascribes  all  the  phenomena  of  somnambulism  to  the 
purely  physical  activity  of  the  nerves,  and  proposes  to 


388  MODERN    MAGIC. 

call  his  new  physical  science  neurnrgy.  He  identifies 
the  nervous  fluid  with  galvanism  and  voltaic  electricity, 
and  asserts  that  by  a  galvanic  battery  all  the  results  can 
be  obtained  which  mesmerism  claims  as  its  own.  He 
also  states  that  galvanic  rings,  bracelets,  belts  and  neck- 
laces cause  immediately  somnambulism  in  well-quali- 
fied persons,  while  carbon  held  before  the  nostrils  of 
somnambulists  in  deep  sleep,  awakes  them  instantly,  and 
at  the  same  time  releases  limbs  held  in  cataleptic  rigidi- 
ty. Alabaster,  soda,  and  wax  have  similar  effects,  but 
less  promptly,  and  the  wind  from  a  pair  of  bellows  has 
equal  power.  According  to  his  theory,  currents  of  what 
he  calls  the  galvanic-neururgic  fluid,  are  capable  of 
producing  all  the  well-known  symptoms  and  phenom- 
ena of  thought  from  idiocy  to  genius,  and  from  uncon- 
scious sleep  to  the  highest  excitement;  the  process  by 
which  these  results  can  be  obtained  is  a  suspension  of  the 
vital  equilibrium  by  disease,  intoxication,  abstinence, 
long-continued  fasting  and  prayer  and  the  like.  If  the 
marvelous  fluid  is  unequally  distribiited  through  the 
system,  catalepsy  ensues.  The  novelty  and  force  of 
Eobiano's  doctrines  attracted  much  attention,  but  a 
series  of  experiments  conducted  by  eminent  men  soon 
proved  that  galvanism  alone  produced  in  no  instance 
somnambulism,  but  invariably  required  the  aid  of  voli- 
tion, which  the  learned  Italian  in  his  modesty  had 
probably  underrated,  if  not  altogether  overlooked. 

It  is  a  matter  more  of  curiosity  than  of  real  intm-st, 
that  the  Chinese  have — now  for  nearly  eleven  hundred 


MAGXETISM.  389 

years — believed  in  an  inherent  power  possessed  by  every 
human  being,  called  yu-yang,  which  is  identical  with  an 
universal  yu,-yang.  According  to  this  view,  every  person 
endowed  Avith  the  proper  ability  can  dispose  of  his  own 
yu-yang  and  diffuse  a  portion  of  it  over  others,  so  as  to 
cure  their  infirmities.  The  French  missionary  Amyot 
communicated  this  to  Puysegur  (J)u  Magnetisme  Ani- 
mal, Paris,  1807,  p.  387),  and  looked  upon  the  yu-yang 
as  the  universal  vital  power  which  produces  everything. 
Before  wre  dismiss  any  such  theory — in  China  or 
nearer  home — with  a  supercilious  smile,  it  is  well  to 
recall  the  reception  which  the  first  revelation  of 
electricity  in  the  human  body  met  among  our  savants. 
The  doctrine  bad  to  pass  through  the  usual  three  stages 
of  contempt,  controversy  and  final  adoption.  John 
Wesley,  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  said  of  it: 
'•'With  what  vehemence  has  it  been  opposed!  Some- 
times, by  treating  it  with  contempt,  as  if  it  were  of 
little  or  no  use ;  sometimes  by  arguments  such  as  they 
were,  and  sometimes  by  such  cautions  against  its  ill 
effects,  as  made  thousands  afraid  to  meddle  with  it." 
Now,  every  elementary  text-book  teaches  that  all  created 
living  bodies  are  electric,  and  that  some  persons, 
animals,  and  plants  are  so  in  a  very  high  degree.  To 
establish  this  truth  poor  puss  has  had  to  suffer  much 
in  order  to  give  out  electric  sparks,  and  the  sensitive 
plant  has  had  to  show  how  its  leaves 

"  With  quick  horror  fly  the  neighboring  hand," 


390  MODERN    MAGIC. 

which  draws  from  them  the  electricity  of  which  it  contain  s 
more  than  other  plants.  Physicians  have  learnt  that  a 
person  who  has  the  small-pox  cannot  be  electrified,  the 
body  being  fully  charged  and  refusing  to  receive  more 
electricity,  while  sparks  may  be  drawn  from  the  body 
of  a  patient  dying  with  cholera.  Now  this  once 
despised  power,  in  the  shape  of  voltaic  electricity, 
adorns  our  tables  with  electro-plate  works  of  art,  carries 
our  thoughts  around  the  globe,  blasts  rocks,  fires  can- 
nons and  torpedoes,  and  even  rings  the  bells  of  our 
houses.  Now  little  chain  batteries,  that  can  be  car- 
ried in  the  waistcoat  pockets,  produce  powerful  shocks 
and  cure  grievous  diseases,  while  tiny  bands,  which  yet 
can  decompose  water  in  a  test-tube,  are  worn  by  thou- 
sands as  a  protection  against  intense  suffering  and  utter 
prostration.  What  in  this  case  happened  to  electricity 
may  very  well  be  the  fate  of  the  new  power  also,  which 
is  the  true  agent  in  all  that  we  carelessly  call  magnetism. 
Somnambulism  and  clairvoyance,  by  whatever  means 
they  may  have  been  caused,  differ  in  this  from  dreams 
and  feverish  fancies,  that  the  outer  senses  are  rendered 
inactive  and  in  their  place  peculiar  inner  life  begins  to 
act,  while  the  subject  is  perfectly  conscious.  The  magic 
phenomena  differ  naturally  infinitely  according  to  the 
varying  natures  of  the  patients.  In  the  majority  of 
cases  sleep  is  the  only  result  of  magnetizing ;  a  few  per- 
sons become  genuine  somnambulists  and  begin  to  speak, 
first  very  indistinctly,  because  the  organs  of  speech  are 
partially  locked  and  the  consciousness  is  not  fully 


MAGNETISM.  391 

aroused.  As  the  spasms  cease,  speech  becomes  freer,  and 
as  the  mind  clears  up,  the  thoughts  also  reveal  themselves 
more  distinctly.  These  symptoms  are  ordinarily  accom- 
panied by  others  of  varying  character,  from  simple  heat 
in  the  extremities  and  painful  sobbing  to  actual  syncope. 
In  almost  all  such  cases,  however,  the  nervous  system  is 
suffering  from  a  violent  shock,  and  this  produces  spasms 
of  more  or  less  appalling  violence.  The  temper  of  the 
sufferers — for  such  they  are  all  to  some  degree — varies 
from  deep  despondency  to  exulting  bliss  fulness,  but  is 
as  changeable  as  that  of  children,  and  resembles  but 
too  frequently  the  capricious  and  unintelligible  mental 
condition  of  insaue  persons. 

Those  who  are  for  the  first  time  thrown  into  magnetic 
sleep  generally  feel  after  awaking  as  if  a  great  change 
had  taken  place  in  them ;  they  are  apt  to  remain  seri- 
ous, and  apparently  plunged  in  deep  thought  for  several 
days.  If  their  case  is  in  unskillful  hands,  nervous  dis- 
orders 'are  rarely  avoided;  phantastic  visions  may  be 
seen,  and  convulsions  and  more  threatening  symptoms 
even  may  occur.  Youth  is  naturally  more  susceptible 
to  the  influence  of  magnetism  than  riper  years;  leally 
old  persons  have  never  yet  been  put  to  sleep.  In  like 
manner  women  are  more  easily  controlled  than  men,  and 
hence  more  capable  of  being  magnetized  than  of  magne- 
tizing others.  If  men  appear  more  frequently  in  the 
annals  of  this  new  branch  of  magic  than  women,  this  is 
due  merely  to  the  fact  that  men  appear  naturally,  and 
so  far  at  least  voluntarily  more  frequently  in  public 


H92  MODERN    MAGIC. 

statements  than  women.  The  latter,  moreover,  are  very 
rarely  found  able  to  magnetize  men,  simply  because 
they  are  less  in  the  habit  of  exerting  their  will  for  the 
purpose  of  influencing  others ;  the  exceptions  were 
mostly  so-called  masculine  women.  Over  their  own  sex, 
however,  they  are  easily  able  to  obtain  full  control. 

Among  the  curious  symptoms  accompanying  the  magic 
phenomena  of  this  class,  the  following  deserve  being 
mentioned.  A  distinguished  physician,  Dr.  Heller,  ex- 
amined the  blood  corpuscules  of  a  person  in  magnetic 
sleep  and  found  that  their  shape  was  essentially  modi- 
fied; they  were  raised  and  pointed  so  as  to  bear  some 
resemblance  to  mulberries ;  at  the  same  time  they  ex- 
hibited a  vibrating  motion.  Another  symptom  fre- 
quently observed  in  mesmerism  are  electric  shocks, 
which  produce  sometimes  a  violent  trembling  in  the 
whole  person  before  the  beginning  of  magnetic  sleep 
and  after  it  has  ceased.  As  many  as  four  thousand 
such  shocks  have  been  counted  in  an  hour ;  they  are 
especially  frequent  in  hysterical  women  and  then  ac- 
companied by  severe  pain,  in  men  they  are  of  rarer  occur- 
rence. Finally,  it  appears  from  a  number  of  well-authen- 
ticated cases  that  magnetic  convulsions  are  contagious, 
extending  even  to  animals.  Persons  suffering  with  cata- 
lepsy have  more  than  once  been  compelled  to  kill  pet 
cats  because  the  latter  suffered  in  a  similar  manner 
whenever  the  attacks  came,  and  the  same  has  been 
noticed  in  favorite  dogs  which  Avere  left  in  the  room 
while  magnetic  cures  were  performed.  This  is  all  the 


MAGNETISM.  393 

more  frequently  noticed  as  many  magnetizers  look  upon 
convulsions  as  efforts  made  by  nature  to  restore  the  sys- 
tem to  a  healthy  condition,  and  hence  excite  in  their 
patients  convulsions  without  magnetizing  them  fully. 

A  new  doctrine  concerning  the  magic  phenomena  of 
magnetism  establishes  a  special  force  inherent  in  all  in- 
organic substances,  and  calls  it  Siderian.  This  theory  is 
the  result  of  the  observation  that  certain  substances, 
like  water  and  metal,  possess  a  special  power  of  produc- 
ing somnambulism,  and  at  one  time  a  peculiar  appara- 
tus, called  baqucf,  was  much  in  use,  by  means  of 
which  several  persons,  connected  with  each  other  and 
with  a  vessel  filled  with  water  and  pieces  of  metal, 
were  rendered  clairvoyant.  The  whole  subject  has 
not  yet  been  fully  investigated,  and  hence  the  con- 
clusions drawn  from  isolated  cases  must  be  looked 
upon  as  premature.  It  has,  however,  been  established 
beyond  doubt  that  metals  have  a  peculiar  power  over 
sensitive  persons,  in  their  natural  sleep  as  well  as  in  the 
magnetic  sleep.  Many  somnambulists  are  painfully 
affected  by  gold,  others  by  iron ;  a  very  sensitive  patient 
could,  after  an  instant's  touch,  distinguish  even  rare 
metals  like  bismuth  and  cobalt  by  the  sensations  which 
they  produced  when  laid  upon  her  heart.  Dr.  Brun- 
ner,  when  professor  of  physics  in  Peru,  had  a  patient 
who  could  not  touch  iron  without  falling  into  convul- 
sions, and  was  made  clairvoyant  by  simply  taking  her 
physician's  pocket-knife  in  her  hand. 

This  Siderian  or  Astral  force,  so  called  from  a  pre- 
17* 


;594  MODERN    MAGIC. 

suuied  influence  exercised  by  the  heavenly  bod! 
well  as  by  all  inorganic  substances,  admits  of  no  isola- 
tion, although  it  is  possessed  in  varying  degrees  by 
certain  metals  and  minerals.  It  has  no  effect  even  upon 
the  electrometer  or  the  magnetic  needle ;  its  force  is  radi- 
ating, quite  independent  of  light,  but  considerably  in- 
creased by  heat.  Persons  magnetized  by  the  mysterious 
force  of  the  baquet  have,  however,  an  astonishing  power 
over  the  magnetic  needle  and  can  make  it  deflect  by 
motion,  fixed  glance,  or  even  mere  volition.  In  Galig- 
nt/ni's  Messenger  (25th  of  October,  1851)  the  case  of 
Prudence  Bernard  in  Paris  is  mentioned,  who  forced 
the  needle  to  follow  the  motions  of  her  head. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  value  of  this  theory,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  the  effect  which  certain  physical 
processes  going  on  in  the  atmosphere  have  on  our  body 
and  mind  alike  is  very  striking  and  yet  almost  entirely 
unknown.  Science  is  leisurely  gathering  up  facts  which 
will  no  doubt  in  the  end  furnish  us  a  clue  to  many  phe- 
nomena which  we  now  call  magic,  or  even  supernatural. 
Thus  almost  every  hour  of  the  day  has  its  peculiarity 
in  connection  with  Nature :  at  one  hour  the  barometer, 
at  another  the  thermometer  reaches  its  maximum ;  at 
other  periods  magnetism  is  at  its  highest  or  the  air  full- 
est of  vapor,  and  to  these  various  influences  the  dis- 
eases of  men  stand  in  close  relation.  When  Auroras 
are  seen  frequently  the  atmosphere  is  found  to  be  sur- 
charged with  electricity;  they  are  intimately  connected 
with  gastric  fevers,  and  according  to  some  physicians, 


MAGNETISM.  -195 

even  with  typhus  aud  cholera.  It  has  also  been  ascer- 
tained that  the  progress  of  the  cholera  and  the  plague 
— perhaps  also  of  common  influenza — coincides  accu- 
rately with  the  isogonic  line;  these  diseases  disappear 
as  soon  as  the  eastward  declination  of  the  magnetic 
needle  ceases.  In  recent  times  a  correspondence  of  the 
spots  in  the  sun  with  earth-magnetism  has  also  been 
observed.  In  like  manner  it  has  been  established  that 
continued  positive  electricity  of  the  air,  producing 
ozone  in  abundance,  is  apt  to  cause  catarrhs,  inflamma- 
tions, and  rheumatism,  while  negative  electricity  causes 
nervous  fevers  and  cholera.  Even  the  moon  has  recov- 
ered some  of  its  former  importance  in  its  relations  to 
the  human  body,  and  although  the  superstitions  of 
past  ages  with  their  absurd  exaggerations  have  long  since 
been  abandoned,  certain  facts  remain  as  evidences  of  a 
connection  between  the  moon  and  some  diseases.  Thus 
the  paroxysms  of  lunatics,  epileptics,  and  somnambu- 
lists are  undoubtedly  in  correspondence  with  the  phases 
of  the  moon ;  madmen  rave  most  furiously  when  the 
latter  is  full,  and  its  phases  determine  with  astonishing 
regularity  the  peculiar  affections  of  women,  as  was  tri- 
umphantly proven  by  the  journal  kept  with  admirable 
fidelity  during  the  long  life  of  Dr.  Constantine  Heriug 
of  Philadelphia. 

Another  name  given  to  these  phenomena  is  the 
Hypnotism  of  the  English.  (Braid,  "  Neurohypnology," 
London,  1843.)  This  theory  is  based  upon  the  fact  that 
sensitive  persons  can  be  rendered  clairvoyant  by  looking 


396  MODERN    MAGIC. 

fixedly  at  some  small  but  bright  object  held  close  to 
their  face,  and  by  continuing  for  some  time  to  fix  the 
mind  upon  the  same  object  after  the  eyelids  have 
closed  from  sheer  weariness.  The  method  of  produc- 
ing this  magnetic  sleep,  and  some  of  the  symptoms 
peculiar  to  mesmerized  persons,  has  since  been  fre- 
quently varied.  Dodds  makes  the  patient  take  a  disk 
of  zinc,  upon  which  a  small  disk  of  copper  is  laid,  into 
his  hand,  and  regard  them  fixedly ;  thus  he  produces 
what  he  calls  electro-biology.  Catton,  in  Manchester, 
England,  prefers  a  gentle  brushing  of  the  forehead,  and 
by  this  simple  means  causes  magnetic  sleep.  Braid's 
experiments,  in  which  invariably  over-excitement  of 
nerves  was  followed  by  torpor,  rigidity,  and  insensibility, 
have  since  been  repeated  by  eminent  physicians  with  a 
view  to  produce  anajsthesis  during  painful  operations. 
They  have  met  with  perfect  success;  and  the  removal 
of  the  shining  object,  fresh  air,  and  slight  frictions, 
sufficed  to  restore  consciousness.  The  same  results 
have  been  obtained  in  France,  where,  according  to  a 
report  made  to  the  French  Academy,  in  1859,  by  the 
renowned  Dr.  Velpeau,  persons  induced  to  look  at  a 
shining  object,  held  close  between  their  eyes,  began  to 
squint  violently,  and  in  a  few  moments  to  fall,  utterly 
•unconscious  and  insensible,  into  magnetic  sleep. 
Maury  explains  the  process  as  one  of  vertigo,  which 
itself  again  is  caused  by  the  pressure  of  blood  upon  the 
brain,  and  adds,  that  any  powerful  impression  produced 
upon  the  retina  may  have  the  same  effect.  Hence,  no 


MAGNETISM.  397 

doubt,  the  mal  occJtio  of  the  Italians,  inherited  from  the 
evil  eye  of  the  ancients;  hence  the  often  almost  mar- 
vel ous  power  which  some  men  have  exercised  by  the 
mere  glance  of  the  eye.  The  fixed  look  of  the  magne- 
tizer,  which  attracts  the  eye  of  the  patient,  and  holds 
it,  as  it  were,  spell-bound,  has  very  much  the  same 
effect,  and  when  this  look  is  carefully  cultivated  it  may 
put  others  beside  themselves — as  was  the  case  with 
Urbain  Graudier,  who  could,  at  any  time,  cause  his 
arms  to  fall  into  a  trance  by  merely  fixing  his  eyes  upon 
them  for  a  few  minutes. 

From  all  these  experiments  we  gather,  once  more, 
that  men  can,  by  a  variety  of  means,  which  are  called 
magnetism  or  mesmerism,  influence  others  who  are 
susceptible,  till  the  latter  fall  into  magnetic  sleep,  have 
cataleptic  attacks,  or  become  clairvoyant.  It  is  less 
certain  that,  as- many  assert,  these  results  are  obtained 
by  means  of  a  most  subtle,  as  yet  unknown,  fluid,  which 
the  magnetizer  causes  to  vibrate  in  his  own  mind,  and 
which  passes  from  him,  by  means  of  his  hands,  into  the 
patient,  where  it  produces  effects  corresponding  to  those 
felt  by  the  principal.  To  accomplish  even  this,  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  magnetizer  should  not 
only  possess  a  higher  energy  than  his  patient,  but  also 
stand  to  him  in  the  relation  of  the  positive  pole  to  the 
negative.  The  extent  of  success  is  measurable  by  the 
strength  of  will  on  one  hand,  and  the  degree  of  sus- 
ceptibility on  the  other ;  both  maybe  infinitely  varied, 
from  total  absence  to  an  overwhelming  abundance. 


398  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Practice,  at  least,  however,  aids  the  magnetizer  effectu- 
ally, and  certain  French  and  Italian  masters  have 
obtained  surprising  results.  The  most  striking  of  these 
is  still  the  cataleptic  state,  which  they  cause  at  Avill. 
Breathing,  pulsation,  and  digestion  continue  uninter- 
rupted, but  the  muscles  are  no  longer  subject  to  our  will; 
they  cease  to  be  active,  and  hence  the  patient  remains 
immovable  in  any  position  he  may  be  forced  to  assume. 

The  general  symptoms  produced  by  magnetizing  arc- 
uniformly  the  same  :  as  soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of 
passes  have  been  made  from  the  head  downward  the  pa- 
tient draws  a  few  deep  inhalations,  and  then  follow 
increased  animal  heat  and  perspiration,  the  effect  of 
greater  activity  of  the  nerves,  while  pain  ceases  and 
cheerfulness  succeeds  despondency.  If  the  passes  are 
continued,  these  symptoms  increase  in  force,  produce 
their  natural  consequences,  and,  the  functions  becoming 
normal,  recovery  takes  place.  Magnetic  sleep  is  fre- 
quently preceded  by  slight  feverish  ness,  convulsive 
trembling  and  fainting.  The  eyelids,  half  or  entirely 
closed,  begin  to  tremble,  the  eyeballs  turn  upward  and 
imvard,  and  the  pupils  become  enlarged  and  insensible 
to  light.  The  features  change  in  a  striking  manner, 
peculiar  to  this  kind  of  sleep,  and  easily  recognized. 
After  several  experiments  of  this  kind  have  been  made 
upon  susceptible  persons,  the  outward  sleep  begins  to  be 
accompanied  by  an  inner  awakening,  at  first  in  a  half- 
dreamy  state  and  gradually  more  fully,  till  conversation 
can  be  attempted. 


MAGNETISM.  399 

Contrary  to  the  general  impression,  faith  does  not 
seem  to  be  an  essential  element  of  success,  at  least  on 
the  part  of  the  patient,  for  infants  and  very  young 
children  have  been  rendered  clairvoyant  as  well  as 
grown  persons.  On  the  other  hand,  natural  suscepti- 
bility is  indispensable,  for  Deleuse  (D6f.  du  Maynetisinc, 
p.  156)  states  that  in  his  extended  practice  he  found 
only  one.  out  of  twenty  persons  fit  to  be  magnetized. 
Of  those  whom  he  could  influence,  only  one  in 
twenty  could  converse  in  his  sleep,  and  of  five  of  this 
class  not  more  than  one  became  fully  clairvoyant.  Cer- 
tain persons,  though  well  endowed,  impress  their  pa- 
tients unfavorably,  cause  a  sensation  of  cold  instead  of 
heat  in  their  system,  and  produce  a  feeling  of  strong 
aversion.  The  most  remarkable  feature  in  all  these  re- 
lations, however,  is  the  fact  that  the  patient  not  unfre- 
quently  affects  the  magnetizer,  and  this  in  the  most 
extraordinary  manner.  One  physician  took  into  the 
hand  with  which  he  had  touched  a  dying  person,  t\vo 
finches;  they  immediately  sickened  and  died  a  few  days 
later.  Another,  a  physically  powerful  and  perfectly 
healthy  man,  who  was  treating  a  patient  suffering  of 
tic  douloureux  by  means  of  magnetism,  became  unwell 
after  a  few  days,  and  on  the  seventh  day  fell  himself  a 
victim  to  that  painful  disease,  till  he  had  to  give  up  the 
treatment.  He  handed  his  patient  over  to  a  brother 
physician,  who  suffered  in  the  same  manner,  and  actually 
died  in  a  short  time. 

After  continued  practice  has  strengthened  the  mag- 


400  MODERN    MAGIC. 

netizer,  his  "passes"  often  become  unnecessary,  and  he 
can  at  last,  under  favorable  circumstances,  produce 
magnetic  sleep  by  a  simple  glance  or  even  the  mere 
unuttered  volition.  Some  physicians  had  only  to  say 
Sleep!  and  their  patient  fell  asleep;  others  were  able 
to  move  the  sleepers  from  their  beds  by  a  slight  touch 
with  the  tip  of  the  thumb.  One  of  this  class,  after 
curing  a  poor  boy  of  catalepsy,  retained  such  perfect 
control  over  him  that  he  only  needed  to  point  at  him 
with  his  finger,  or  to  let  him  touch  some  metal  which  he 
had  magnetized,  in  order  to  make  him  fall  down  as  if 
thunderstruck.  The  great  German  writer,  known  as 
Jean  Paul,  relates  of  himself  that  he,  "  in  a  large  com- 
pany and  by  merely  looking  at  her  fixedly,  caused  a 
Mrs.  K.  twice  to  fall  almost  asleep  and  to  make  her 
heart  beat  and  her  color  go,  till  S.  had  to  help  her." 
The  Abbe  Faria,  who  seems  to  have  been  specially  en- 
dowed with  such  power,  would  magnetize  perfect  stran- 
gers by  suddenly  stretching  out  his  hands  and  saying 
in  an  authoritative  tone:  Sleep,  I  will  it!  He  had  a 
formidable  competitor  afterwards  in  Hebert.  who  played 
almost  at  will  with  a  large  number  of  spectators  in  his 
crowded  hall,  making  them  follow  him  wherever  he 
led,  or  causing  them  to  fall  asleep  by  simply  making 
passes  over  the  inside  of  their  hats.  In  the  case  of  young 
girls  he  produced  rigidity  of  members  with  great  facility, 
and  then  caused  them  to  assume  any  position  he  chose; 
his  patients  were  utterly  helpless  and  powerless.  Du- 
potet,  already  mentioned,  possessed  similar  influence 


MAGNETISM.  401 

over  others;  he  once  magnetized  an  athletic  man  of 
ripe  years,  by  merely  walking  around  the  chair  on  which 
he  was  seated,  and  forced  him  to  turn  with  him  by  jerks. 
On  another  occasion  he  made  a  white  chalk-mark  on 
the  floor,  and  then  requested  a  gentleman  to  put  both 
his  feet  lipon  the  spot ;  while  he  remained  quietly  stand- 
ing by  the  side  of  his  friends.  After  a  few  minutes  the 
stranger  began  to  shut  his  eyes,  and  his  body  trembled 
and  swayed  to  and  fro,  till  it  sank  so  low  that  the  head 
hung  down  to  the  hips — at  last  Dnpotet  loosened  the 
spell  by  upward  passes.  An  Italian,  Eagazzoni,  excited 
in  1859,  no  small  sensation  by  his  remarkable  success 
as  a  magnetizer.  Unlike  other  physicians,  he  used  an 
abundance  of  gestures  to  accompany  the  active  play  of 
his  expressive  features,  and  yet  by  merely  breathing 
upon  persons  he  could  check  their  respiration  and  the 
circulation  of  their  blood  ;  in  like  manner  he  caused  the 
chest  to  swell  and  paralyzed  single  limbs  or  the  whole 
body.  He  pushed  needles  through  the  hand  or  the  skin 
of  the  forehead  without  causing  a  sign  of  pain  ;  he  ena- 
bled his  patients  to  guess  his  thoughts,  and  set  them 
walking,  running  or  dancing,  although  they  were  in  one 
room  and  he  in  another.  "When  he  had  paralyzed  their 
senses,  burning  sulphur  did  not  affect  their  smell,  nor 
brilliant  light  the  open  pupil;  the  ringing  of  a  large 
bell  close  to  the  ear  and  the  firing  of  a  pistol  remained 
unheard.  In  fine,  he  repeated  all  the  experiments  al- 
ready made  by  Puysegur  with  his  patient,  Victor,  but 
generally  without  the  use  of  passes.  (Schopenhauer, 


402  MODERN    MAGIC. 

Ueber  d.  Willen  in  d.  Xatur.  1867,  p.  102.)  Maury, 
who  has  given  a  most  interesting  and  trustworthy 
account  of  similar  cases  (Revue  des  Deux  Mondez,  1860, 
t.  25),  states  in  speaking  of  General  Noize.t,  that  the 
latter  caused  him  to  fall  asleep  by  saying :  "  Dormes  ! " 
Immediately  a  thick  veil  fell  upon  his  eyes,  he  felt  weak, 
began  to  perspire,  and  felt  a  strong  pressure  upon  the 
abdomen.  A  second  experiment,  however,  was  less  suc- 
cessful. 

Besides  passes,  a  variety  of  other  means  have  been 
employed  to  produce  magnetic  sleep  and  kindred  phe- 
nomena. Dr.  Bendsea,  one  of  the  earlier  practitioners, 
frequently  used  metal  mirrors  or  even  ordinary  looking- 
glasses;  another  Dr.  Barth,  maintained  that  by  touch- 
ing or  irritating  any  part  of  the  outer  skull,  the  under- 
lying portions  of  the  brains  could  be  excited.  By  thus 
pressing  upon  the  organ  of  love  of  children,  his  patients 
would  at  once  begin  to  think  of  children,  and  often 
caress  a  cushion.  In  this  theory  he  is  supported  by  Had- 
dock, who  first  discovered  that  the  magnetizer's  will 
could  force  his  patient  to  substitute  his  fancies  for  the 
reality,  and,  for  instance,  to  believe  a  handkerchief  to 
be  a  pet  dog  or  an  infant,  and  an  empty  glass  to  be 
filled  with  such  liquids  as  he  suggested.  The  influ- 
ence in  such  cases  must,  however,  be  rather  ascribed  to 
the  fact  that  the  magnetizers  were  also  phrenologists, 
than  to  the  presumed  organs  themselves. 

It  must  lastly  be  mentioned  that  some  persons  claim 
to  possess  the  power  to  magnetize  themselves,  and  Du- 


MAGNETISM.  403 

potet,  a  trustworthy  authority  in  such  matters,  supports 
the  assertion.  A  case  is  mentioned  in  the  Journal  de 
Tame  (iv.  p.  103),  of  a  man  who  could  hypnotize  him- 
self from  childhood  up,  by  merely  fixing  his  eye  for 
some  time  upon  a  certain  point ;  in  later  years,  proba- 
bly by  too  frequent  excitement  of  this  kind,  he  was  apt 
to  fall  into  trances  and  to  see  visions. 

The  sympathetic  relations  which  by  magnetism  are 
established  between  two  or  more  persons  who  are  in  a 
state  of  somnambiilism  or  clairvoyance,  is  commonly 
called  rapport,  although  there  is  no  apparent  necessity 
for  preferring  a  French  word.  The  closest  relations 
exist  naturally  between  the  magnetizer  and  his  subject, 
and  the  intensity  of  the  rapport  varies,  of  course,  with 
the  energy  of  will  of  the  one,  and  the  susceptibility  of 
the  patient  of  the  other.  The  same  rapport  exists, 
however,  often  between  the  patients  of  the  same  mag- 
netizer, and  may  be  increased  by  merely  joining  hands, 
or  a  strong  effort  of  will  on  the  part  of  the  physician. 
It  has  often  been  claimed  that  mesmerism  produces 
exceptionally  by  rapport  what  in  twins  is  the  effect  of 
a  close  natural  resemblance  and  contemporaneousness 
of  organization.  Clairvoyants  endowed  with  the  highest 
powers  which  have  yet  been  observed,  thus  see  not  only 
their  own  body  as  if  it  were  transparent,  but  can  in 
like  manner  watch  what  is  going  on  within  the  bodies 
of  others,  provided  they  are  brought  into  rapport  with 
them,  and  hence  their  ability  to  prescribe  for  their  ail- 
ments. Puysegur  was  probably  the  first  to  discover 


404  MODERN    MAGIC. 

this  peculiarity :  he  was  humming  to  himself  a  favorite 
air  while  magnetizing  a  peasant  boy,  and  suddenly  the 
latter  began  to  sing  the  same  air  with  a  loud  voice. 
Haddock's  patients  gave  all  the  natural  signs  of  pain  in 
different  parts  of  the  body,  when  he  was  struck  or 
pinched,  while  at  the  very  time  they  were  themselves 
insensible  to  pain.  Dr.  Emelin  found  that  when  he 
held  his  watch  to  his  right  ear,  a  female  patient  of  his 
heard  the  ticking  in  her  left  ear ;  if  he  held  it  to  her 
own  ear  she  heard  nothing.  He  was,  also,  not  a  little 
astonished  when  another  patient,  in  a  distant  town  to 
which  he  traveled,  revealed  to  him  a  whole  series  of 
professional  meditations  in  which  he  had  been  plunged 
during  his  journey.  And  yet  such  a  knowledge  of  the 
magnetizer's  thoughts  is  nothing  uncommon  in  well- 
qnalified  subjects  who  have  been  repeatedly  magnetized. 
Mrs.  Crowe  mentions  the  case  of  a  gentleman  who  was 
thus  treated  while  he  was  at  Malveru  and  his  physician 
at  Cheltenham.  He  was  lying  in  magnetic  sleep,  when 
he  suddenly  sprang  up,  clapped  his  hands  together,  and 
broke  out  into  loud  laughter.  His  physician  was  written 
to  and  replied  that  on  the  same  day  he  had  been  busy 
thinking  of  his  patient,  when  a  sudden  knock  at  the 
door  startled  him  and  made  him  jump  and  clap  his 
hands  together.  He  then  laughed  heartily  at  his  folly ! 
(I.  p.  140.)  Dupotet  once  saw  a  striking  illustration  of 
the  rapport  which  may  exist  between  two  patients  of 
the  same  magnetizer.  even  where  the  two  are  unknown 
to  each  other. 


MAGNETISM.  405 

He  was  treating  some  of  bis  patients  in  a  hospital  in 
St.  Petersburg,  by  means  of  magnetism,  and  found,  to 
his  surprise,  that  whenever  he  put  one  of  them  to  sleep 
in  the  upper  story,  the  other  in  the  lower  story  would 
also  instantly  drop  asleep,  although  she  could  not  possi- 
bly be  aware  of  what  was  going  on  upstairs.  This  hap- 
pened, moreover,  not  once,  but  repeatedly,  and  for 
weeks  in  succession.  If  both  were  asleep  when  he  came 
on  his  daily  round,  he  needed  only  arouse  one  to  hear 
the  other  awake  with  a  start  and  utter  loud  cries. 

Magnetic  sleep  generally  does  not  begin  immediately, 
but  after  s.ome  intermediate  danger;  most  frequently 
ordinary  sleep  serves  as  a  bridge  leading  to  magnetic 
sleep,  and  yet  the  two  are  entirely  different  conditions. 
When  at  last  sleep  is  induced,  various  degrees  of  excep- 
tional powers  are  exhibited,  which  are  evidences  of  an 
inner  sense  that  has  been  awakened,  while  the  outer  senses 
have  become  inactive.  The  patient  is,  however,  utterly 
unconscious  of  the  fact  that  his  eyes  are  closed,  and  be- 
lieves he  sees  through  them  as  when  he  is  awake. 
When  somnambulists  are  asked  why  they  keep  their 
eyes  shut,  they  answer :  "  I  do  not  know  what  you 
mean  ;  I  see  you  perfectly  well."  The  highest  degree, 
but  rarely  developed  in  specially  favored  persons,  con- 
sists of  perfect  clairvoyance  accompanied  by  a  sense  of 
indescribable  bliss ;  in  this  state  the  spiritual  and  moral 
features  #f  the  patient  assume  a  form  of  highest  devel- 
opment, visions  are  beheld,  remote  and  future  things 
are  discerned,  and  other  persons  may  be  influenced,  even 


406  MODERN    MAGIC. 

if  they  are  at  a  considerable  distance.  It  is  in  this  con- 
dition that  persons  in  magnetic  sleep  exhibit  in  the 
highest  degree  the  magic  phenomena  of  magnetism. 
The  latter  are  generally  accompanied  by  a  sensation  of 
intense  light,  which  at  times  becomes  almost  painful, 
and  has  to  be  allayed  by  the  physician,  especially  when 
it  threatens  to  interfere  with  the  unconscious  conversa- 
tions of  the  patient.  This  enjoyment  has,  however,  to 
be  paid  for  dearly,  for  it  exhausts  the  sleeper,  and  in 
many  instances  it  so  closely  resembles  the  struggle  of 
the  soul  when  parting  from  the  body  in  death,  that 
dissolution  seems  to  be  impending.  Somnambulists 
themselves  maintain  that  such  magnetic,  sleep  shortens 
their  lives  by  several  years,  and  has  to  be  interrupted 
in  time  to  prevent  it  from  becoming  fatal.  Eecollection 
rarely  survives  magnetic  sleep,  but  after  awaking,  vague 
and  indistinct  impulses  continue,  which  stand  in  some 
connection  with  the  incidents  of  such  sleep.  A  well  known 
magnetizer,  Mouillesaux,  once  ordered  a  patient,  while 
sunk  in  magnetic  sleep,  to  go  on  the  following  day  and 
call  on  a  person  whom  she  did  not  like.  The  prom- 
ise Avas  given  reluctantly,  but  not  mentioned  again  after 
she  awoke.  To  test  the  matter,  the  physician  went, 
accompanied  by  a  few  friends,  on  the  next  day,  to  that 
person's  house,  and,  to  their  great  surprise,  the  patient 
was  seen  to  walk  up  and  down  anxiously  before  the 
door,  and  at  last  to  enter,  visibly  embarrassed.  Mouille- 
saux at  once  followed  her  and  explained  the  matter ; 
she  told  him  that  from  the  moment  of  her  rising  in  the 


MAGXETIS1T.  .        407 

morning  she  had  been  haunted  by  the  idea  that  she 
ought  to  go  to  this  house,  till  her  nervousness  had  be- 
come so  painful  as  to  force  her  to  go  on  her  unwelcome 
errand.  (Expost,  des  Cures,  etc.,  iii.  p.  70.) 

The  power  to  perceive  things  present  without  the  use 
of  the  ordinary  organs,  and  to  become  aware  of  events 
happening  at  a  distance,  has  been  frequently  ascribed 
to  an  additional  sense,  possibly  the  Common  Sense  of 
Aristotle.  Its  fainter  operations  are  seen  in  the  almost 
marvelous  power  possessed  by  bats  to  fly  through  mi- 
nute meshes  of  silk  nets,  stretched  out  for  the  purpose, 
even  when  deprived  of  sight,  and  to  find  their  Avay  to 
their  nests  without  a  moment's  hesitation.  Cuvier 
ascribed  this  remarkable  power  to  their  exquisitely 
developed  sense  of  touch,  which  would  make  them 
aware  of  an  almost  imperceptible  pressure  of  the  air ; 
but  while  this  might  explain  their  avoiding  walls  and 
trees,  it  could  not  well  apply  to  slender  silk  threads. 
Another  familiar  illustration  is  found  in  the  perfectly 
amazing  ability  often  possessed  by  blind,  or  blind  and 
deaf  persons,  who  distinguish  visitors  by  means  neither 
granted  nor  known  to  their  more  fortunate  brethren. 
It  is  generally  believed  that  in  such  cases  the  missing 
senses  are  supplied  by  a  superior  development  of  the 
remaining  senses,  but  even  this  assertion  has  never  yet 
been  fully  proved,  nor  if  proved,  would  it  supply  a  key 
to  some  of  the  almost  marvelous  achievements  of  blind 
peopl  e. 

This  new  or  general  sense  seems  only  to  awaken  in 


408  MODERN   MAGIC. 

exceptional  cases  and  under  peculiar  circumstances. 
That  it  never  shows  itself  in  health}*  life  is  due  to  the 
simple  fact  that  its  power  is  then  obscured  by  the  un- 
ceasing activity  of  the  ordinary  senses.  A  peculiar,  and 
as  yet  unexplained  feature  of  this  power  is  the  tendency 
to  ascribe  its  results,  not  to  the  ordinary  organs,  but  by 
a  curious  transposition  to  some  other  part  of  the  body, 
so  that  persons  in  magnetic  sleep  believe,  as  the  mag- 
netizer  may  choose,  that  they  see,  or  smell,  or  hear  by 
means  of  the  finger-tips,  the  pit  of  the  stomach,  the 
forehead,  or  even  the  back  of  the  head.  It  is  true  that 
savants  like  Alfred  Maury  (Revue  deft  Deux  Mondes,  18GO, 
t.  25)  and  Dr.  Michea  ascribe  these  new  powers  only  to 
an  increased  activity  of  the  senses ;  but  nothing  is 
gained  by  this  reasoning,  as  such  an  astounding  incrca.se 
of  the  irritability  of  the  retina  or  the  tympanum  is  as 
much  of  a  magic  phenomenon  as  the  presumed  new 
sense.  The  simple  explanation  is  that  it  is  not  the  eye 
which  sees  nor  the  ear  which  hears,  but  that  images 
and-  sound-waves  are  carried  by  these  organs  to  the 
great  nervous  centre,  where  we  must  look  for  the  true 
source  of  all  our  perceptions.  If  in  magnetic  sleep  the 
same  images  and  waves  can  be  conveyed  by  other 
means,  the  result  will  be  precisely  the  same  as  if  the 
patient  was  observing  witli  open  eyes  and  ears. 

A  lady  treated  by  Despine  thus  heard  with  the  palm 
of  her  hand  and  read  by  means  of  the  finger-tips,  which 
she  passed  rapidly  over  the  letters  presented  to  her  in 
her  sleep.  At  the  same  time  she  invariably  ascribed 


MAGNETISM.  409 

the  sensations  she  experienced  to  the  natural  senses; 
flowers,  for  instance,  laid  down  unseen  by  her,  so  as 
barely  to  touch  her  fingers,  caused  her  to  draw  in  air 
through  the  nostrils  and  to  exclaim :  Ah,  how  sweet 
that  is!  and  if  objects  were  placed  against  the  sole 
of  her  foot,  she  would  often  exclaim :  "  What  is  that  ? 
I  cannot  see  it  distinctly."  Somnambulists  can,  hence, 
carry  011  domestic  work  in  the  dark  with  the  same  suc- 
cess as  in  broad  daylight,  and  a  patient  whose  case  has 
been  most  carefully  investigated,  could  hem  the  finest 
linen  handkerchiefs  by  holding  the  needle  to  her  brow, 
high  above  her  eyes.  Thus  persons  have  seen  by  means 
of  almost  every  part  of  the  body,  a  fact  which  has  led 
more  than  ope  distinguished  physiologist  to  assume 
that,  under  special  circumstances,  all  the  papillae  of 
nerves  in  the  epidermis  may  become  capable  of  convey- 
ing the  sensual  perceptions  ordinarily  assigned  only  to 
certain  organs,  as  the  eye  or  the  ear.  Even  this  suppo- 
sition, however,  would  not  suffice  to  explain  the  ability 
possessed  by  some  magnetized  persons  to  see  and  hear 
by  means  of  their  fingers,  even  without  touching  the 
objects  or  when  separated  from  the  latter  by  an  inter- 
vening wall. 

The  highest  magic  phenomena  connected  with  mag- 
netic sleep  consist  in  the  perception  of  hidden  things 
and  in  the  influence  exercised  over  persons  at  a  dis- 
tance. Only  a  few  of  these  can  be  explained  by  natu- 
ral laws  and  by  the  increased  power  of  the  senses  fre- 
quently granted  to  peculiarly  constituted  or  diseased 

18 


410  MODERN    MAGIC. 

persons.  The  senses,  on  the  contrary,  cease  to  operate, 
and  man,  for  a  time,  becomes  endowed  with  a  higher 
power,  which  is  probably  part  and  portion  of  his  spirit- 
ual being,  as  made  after  the  image  of  the  Most  High, 
but  obscured  and  rendered  inoperative  by  the  subjec- 
tion of  the  soul  to  the  earthborn  body.  Nor  is  this 
power  always  under  his  control ;  as  if  to  mark  its  su- 
pernatural character,  the  patient  very  often  perceives 
what  is  perfectly  indifferent  to  himself,  and  is  forced, 
almost  against  his  own  will,  to  witness  or  foresee 
events,  the  bearing  of  which  he  cannot  discern.  Gen- 
erally, therefore,  the  importance  of  these  revelations  is 
of  less  interest  than  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
made,  which  is  invariably  of  the  kind  we  call  magic. 
This  is  still  further  attested  by  the  difficulty,  which  is 
almost  always  felt,  of  translating  them,  as  it  were,  into 
ordinary  language,  and  hence  the  many  allegoric  and 
symbolic  forms  under  which  they  are  made  known. 
Future  events  are  often  not  seen,  but  read  in  a  newspa- 
per or  heard  as  recited  by  strangers ;  in  other  cases 
they  are  apparently  imparted  by  the  spirits  of  deceased 
persons.  A  very  frequent  form  is  the  impression  that 
the  soul  leaves  the  body  and,  pursuing  the  track  of  a 
person  to  whom  the  magnetizer  points,  with  all  the 
fidelity  and  marvelous  accuracy  of  a  well*-trained  dog, 
finally  reaches  him  and  sees  him  and  his  surroundings. 
Nor  is  the  distance  a  matter  of  indifference;  like  the 
ordinary  senses,  this  new  sense  also  seems  to  have  its 
laws  and  its  limits,  and  if  the  task  is  too  heavy  and  the 


MAGNETISM.  411 

distance  too  great,  the  perception  remains  vague  and 
indefinite.  Most  important  of  all  is  the  fact  that, 
unlike  spiritual  visions,  magnetism  never  enables 
the  sleeper  to  go  beyond  the  limits  of  our  earthly 
home.  On  the  other  hand,  time  is  no  more  an  obsta- 
cle than  space,  and  genuine  somnambulists  have  seen 
past  and  future  events  as  well  as  distant  scenes.  Mis- 
takes, however,  occur  here  as  with  all  our  other 
senses ;  as  healthy  persons  see  amiss  or  hear  amiss,  so 
magnetic  sleepers  also  are  not  unfrequently  mistaken — 
errors  to  which  they  are  all  the  more  liable  as  the  im- 
pressions received  by  magic  powers  have  to  be  translated 
into  the  language  adapted  to  ordinary  senses. 

Among  somnambulists  of  this  class  Alexis  is  one  of 
the  best  known,  and  has  left  us  an  account  of  many 
experiments  in  his  Explication  die  Sommeil  Magnet  ique. 
Alexis  was  once  put  into  magnetic  sleep  by  a  friend  of 
Dr.  Mayo,  and  then  ordered  to  go  to  Boppard,  on  the 
Rhine,  and  look  for  him ;  Alexis,  after  some  hesita- 
tion, stated  that  he  had  found  him,  and  described 
— although  he  had  never  seen  him  before — his  appear- 
ance and  dress,  not  only,  but  also  the  state  of  mind  in 
which  he  was  at  that  moment,  all  of  which  proved 
afterward  to  be  perfectly  correct.  Alexis  declared 
that  his  perceptions  varied  very  much  in  clearness,  and 
that  his  power  to  see  friends  at  a  distance  depended 
largely  on  the  affection  he  felt  for  them.  In  all  in- 
stances his  magic  powers  were  far  inferior  to  those  of 
his  natural  senses,  although  they  never  misled  him,  as 


412  MODERN   MAGIC. 

the  latter  had  done  occasionally.  In  the  Bibliotlibque 
du  Magnetisms  Animal  (vii.  p.  146),  a  remarkable  case 
is  reported  as  attested  by  undoubted  authority.  The 
English  consul,  Baldwin,  was,  in  1795,  visited  by  an 
Italian  improvisators,  who  happened  to  have  a  small 
medicine-chest  with  him.  In  the  consul's"  kitchen  was 
a  little  Arab,  a  scullion,  who  suffered  of  a  harassing 
cough,  and  whom  his  master  magnetized  in  order  to 
cure  him.  While  in  his  sleep  the  boy  saw  the  medicine- 
chest,  of  which  he  had  known  nothing  before,  and 
selected  among  the  phials  one  with  sugar  of  agri- 
monium,  which  relieved  him  of  his  troubles.  The 
Italian,  thereupon,  asked  also  to  be  magnetized;  fell 
promptly  asleep,  and  wrote  in  this  condition,  with 
closed  eyes,  a  poem  praising  the  art  of  magnetism. 
Haddock's  famous  subject,  Emma,  actually  accomplish- 
ed once  the  crucial  test  of  all  magic  phenomena — she 
proved  the  value  of  magnetism  in  a  question  of  money. 
In  the  year  1849  three  notes,  amounting  to  £650,  had 
been  deposited  in  a  bank,  and  disappeared  in  the  most 
unaccountable  manner.  One  of  the  clerks  confessed, 
that  although  he  had  received  them,  wrapped  them  up 
in  paper,  and  placed  them  with  a  parcel  of  other  notes, 
he  had  forgotten  to  enter  them  regularly  in  the  books. 
No  trace  could  be  discovered ;  at  last  the  magnetized 
subject  was  consulted,  and  after  some  little  time 
declared  that  the  notes  were  lying  in  a  certain  room, 
inserted  in  a  certain  panel,  which  she  described  so 
accurately  that  upon  search  being  instituted  the 


MAGNETISM.  413 

missing  notes  were  found,  and  the  clerk's  character 
was  cleared.  Dr.  Earth  magnetized,  in  1846,  a  lady 
who  was  filled  with  anxiety  about  her  husband  in 
America,  from  whom  she  had  not  heard  for  a  long  time. 
After  having  been  put  into  magnetic  sleep  several 
times,  she  once  exclaimed :  "  God  be  thanked,  my  poor 
husband  is  better.  I  am  looking  over  his  shoulder  and 
see  him  write  a  letter  addressed  to  me,  which  will  be 
here  in  six  or  seven  weeks.  He  tells  me  that  he  has 
been  ill  for  three  months."  Two  months  afterwards 
she  actually  received  such  a  letter,  in  which  her  hus- 
band informed  her  of  his  three  months'  illness,  and  re- 
gretted the  pain  he  had  probably  caused  her  by  his 
protracted  silence.  A  young  lady,  magnetized  by  Rob- 
ert Napier  in  his  house  in  Edinburgh,  not  only  described 
her  parents'  house  as  it  appeared  at  the  moment,  but 
also  the  home  of  a  Miss  B.,  in  New  South  Wales,  where 
she  had  never  been.  In  the  garden  of  the  house  she 
saw  a  gentleman  accompanied  by  a  lady  in  black',  and  a 
dog  of  light  color  with  dark  spo.ts ;  upon  inquiry  it 
appeared  that  Colonel  B.,  the  father  of  the  young  lady, 
had  at  that  time  actually  been  in  the  garden  with  his 
wife  and  his  dog,  although  some  of  the  minor  details 
proved  to  have  been  incorrect.  She  also  gave  a  minute 
and  accurate  account  of  the  upper  stories  of  Napier's 
house,  where  she  had  never  been ;  but  recognizing 
everything  only  gradually,  and  correcting  the  mistakes 
which  she  had  at  first  committed.  Thus  she  spoke  of 
Napier's  old  aunt  as  dressed  in  dark  colors;  after  a 


414  MODERN    MAGIC. 

while  she  exclaimed:  "  Oh,  now  I  see  she  is  dressed  in 
white ! "  It  appeared  afterward  that  the  old  lady  had 
been  sitting  in  a  deep  arm-chair,  overshadowed  by  the 
back  of  the  chair,  the  gas-light  being  behind  her;  just 
at  that  moment,  however,  Napier's  wife  had  come  up, 
the  aunt  had  leaned  forward  to  speak  to  her,  and  thus 
being  brought  into  the  light,  had  revealed  her  white 
night-dress.  This  case  is  peculiarly  interesting  as 
proving  that  the  perceptions  of  somnambulists  are 
dependent  upon  conditions  similar  to  those  which  gov- 
ern the  ordinary  senses.  (Colquhoun,  p.  626.) 

According  to  such  high  authorities  as  Hufeland  and 
others,  magnetic  sleep  enables  persons  to  see  the  in- 
terior of  the  bodies  of  others.  He  himself  heard  one  of 
his  female  patients,  a  woman  without  any  knowledge  of 
anatomy,  describe  quite  accurately  the  inner  structure 
of  the  ear,  and  of  certain  other  parts  of  the  body.  ( Ueber 
Sympatltie,  p.  115.)  It  seems  to  have  been  well  ascer- 
tained that  she  had  never  had  an  opportunity  of  reading 
such  a  description,  even  if  her  memory  had  been  reten- 
tive enough  to  enable  her  to  recall  and  recite  what  she 
had  thus  chanced  to  read.  The  clairvoyant  Alexis 
once  saw  through  the  clothing  of  a  visitor  a  scar,  and 
after  gazing  at  it — in  his  sleep — fora  long  time,  he  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the  effect  of  a  dog's  bite, 
and  finally  stated  all  the  facts  attending  the  accident 
of  which  the  scar  was  the  sole  remaining  evidence. 
Even  historical  predictions  made  in  magnetic  sleep  are 
not  wanting.  The  death  of  a  king  of  Wurtemberg  was 


MAGNETISM.  415 

thus  foretold  by  two  somnambulists,  who  were  under 
medical  treatment,  and  who  warned  their  physicians, 
well-known  and  trustworthy  practitioners  of  good 
standing,  of  the  approaching  event.  The  king's  death 
took  place  without  being  preceded  by  any  serious  illness, 
and  in  the  manner  minutely  predicted  by  one  of  the 
patients ;  a  confirmation  which  was  all  the  more  strik- 
ing, as  the  prediction  had  been  made  in  the  presence  of 
a  number  of  distinguished  men,  among  whom  were  a 
minister  of  the  kingdom  and  several  divines.  Another 
case  is  that  of  the  Swedish  king,  Gustavus  Vasa,  who 
was  assassinated  in  1792,  by  Ankarstrom.  Accompa- 
nied by  his  physician,  he  once  called,  as  Count  Haga, 
upon  a  patient  treated  by  Aubry,  a  pupil  of  Mesmer. 
She  recognized  him  immediately,  although  plunged  in 
magnetic  sleep,  told  him  that  he  suffered  of  oppressions 
of  the  chest,  the  effect  of  a  broken  arm,  and  foretold 
him  that  his  life  was  in  danger  and  that  he  would  be 
murdered.  The  king  was  deeply  impressed,  and  as  his 
physician  expressed  doubt  and  contempt  in  his  face,  he 
desired  that  the  latter  should  be  put  en  rapport  with  the 
patient.  No  sooner  was  this  done  than  the  physician's 
eyes  fell,  he  sank  into  magnetic  sleep,  and  when,  after 
some  time,  he  was  aroused  he  left  the  room  in  great 
agitation.  (A.  Gauthier.  Hist,  du  Somnamb.,  ii. 
p.  246.) 

An  occasional  phenomenon  of  magnetic  sleep  is  the 
improvement  of  the  language  of  patients ;  this  appears 
not  only  in  the  case  of  well-educated  persons,  whose 


416  MODERN    MAGIC. 

diction  assumes  often  a  high  poetical  form,  but  far 
more  strikingly  in  unlettered  and  ignorant  patients. 
who  suddenly  manifest  an  unexpected  familiarity  with 
the  more  refined  form  of  their  native  tongue,  and  not 
imfrequently  even  with  idioms  of  which  they  have  pre- 
viously had  no  knowledge  whatever.  All  these  different 
symptoms  have  been  authenticated  by  numerous  and 
trustworthy  witnesses.  Humble  peasant-women  have 
used  the  most  elegant  forms  of  their  native  language; 
travelers  have  unexpectedly  recovered  the  use  of  idioms 
once  known  to  them,  but  long  since  forgotten ;  and, 
finally,  a  real  gift  of  languages  has  unmistakably  enabled 
patients  to  use  idioms  with  which  they  had  previously 
never  come  in  contact.  This  phenomenon  develops 
itself  occasionally  into  poetical  improvisations  of  con- 
siderable merit,  and  the  beautiful  music  which  many 
hear  in  magnetic  sleep,  or  just  before  dying,  as  if  com- 
ing from  another  world,  is,  in  like  manner,  nothing 
but  a  product  of  their  own  mental  exaltation.  Thus 
persons  who  spoke  merely  a  local  dialect,  and  were 
acquainted  with  no  other  form  of  their  mother-tongue, 
when  placed  in  magnetic  sleep  would  speak  the  best 
English  or  German,  as  if  their  mind,  freed  from  all 
fetters,  resumed  once  more  the  original  task  of  forming 
the  language  in  accordance  with  their  heightened  ca- 
pacities. Little  children,  whose  education  had  scarcely 
begun,  have  been  known  to  recite  verses  or  to  compose 
speeches,  of  which  they  would  have  been  utterly  in- 
capable in  a  healthy  state,  and  of  which  they  had 


MAGNETISM.  417 

afterwards  no  recollection.  Macnish  mentions  a  young 
girl  who,  when  magnetized,  always  fell  back  into 
Welsh,  which  she  had  spoken  as  a  child,  but  long  since 
forgotten,  and  Lausanne  mentions  one  of  his  patients,  a 
Creole,  who  came  at  the  age  of  five  to  France,  and  late 
in  life,  when  magnetized,  spoke  no  longer  Frencli  but 
the  miserable  patois  of  her  early  years.  A  young  tan- 
ner in  England,  also,  though  utterly  uneducated,  like 
the  peasant-boy  of  Puysegur,  was  able  in  magnetic  sleep 
to  speak  German.  Whenever  another  person,  at  such  a 
time,  spoke  to  him  in  English,  his  lips  began  at  once 
to  move,  and  he  translated  what  he  heard  into  fair 
German  verses.  (Morin,  Journ.  du  Magn.  1854,  Xo. 
199.) 

It  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  gift  of  singing 
and  of  using  poetical  language,  often  of  great  beauty,  is 
not  unfrequently  developed  in  fever-patients  also,  and 
in  insane  persons. 

Insensibility  to  impressions  from  without  is  another 
phenomenon  which  magnetic  sleep  has  in  common  with 
many  other  conditions.  It  is  produced  by  anaesthetics 
like  chloroform  and  ether,  by  utter  exhaustion  in  con- 
sequence of  long  suffering,  as  was  the  case  with  martyrs 
and  prisoners  subjected  to  torture,  and  by  excessive  loss 
of  blood.  But  in  magnetic  sleep  it  reaches  a  higher 
degree  than  under  other  circumstances ;  cataleptic 
patients,  and  even  clairvoyants  in  moments  of  greatest 
excitement,  seem  to  be  in  a  state  in  which  the  nerves 
cease  to  act  as  conveyers  of  impressions  to  the  brain. 


418  MODERN   MAGIC. 

This  has  often  led  to  unwarrantable  abuse  ;  physicians, 
under  the  pretext  of  scientific  investigation,  inflicting 
severe  injuries  upon  their  patients,  utterly  unmindful 
of  the  fact  that,  however  great  the  momentary  insensi- 
bility may  be,  the  sense  of  pain  returns  at  the  instant 
of  re-awaking.  On  the  other  hand,  physicians  have 
taken  advantage  of  this  state  of  unconsciousness  of 
pain,  in  order  to  perform  serious  operations. 

The  first  instance  of  a  surgical  operation  being  at- 
tempted while  the  patient  was  in  mesmeric  sleep,  was 
that  of  Madame  Plan  tin,  a  lady  of  sixty-four  years,  who 
suffered  of  cancer  in  the  breast.  A  Mr.  Chapelain  pre- 
pared her  by  throwing  her  for  several  days  into  a  trance  by 
means  of  the  usual  mesmeric  passes.  She  then  manifest- 
ed the  ordinary  symptoms  of  somnambulism,  and  con- 
versed about  the  impending  danger  with  perfect  calm- 
ness, while  she  contemplated  it,  when  conscious,  with 
the  utmost  horror  and  apprehension.  On  the  12th  of 
April,  1824,  she  was  again  thrown  into  a  trance,  and 
the  painful  and  dangerous  operation  accomplished  in 
less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  while  she  conversed  with 
the  surgeon,  the  famous  Dr.  Ploquet,  and  showed  in 
her  voice,  her  breathing,  and  her  pulse  not  the  slightest 
sign  of  excitement  or  pain.  When  the  wound  was 
boui^d  up,  she  awoke,  but  upon  hearing  what  had  taken 
place,  she  became  so  violently  excited  that  the  mag- 
netizer  had  to  cause  her  once  more  to  fall  asleep  under 
his  passes.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  this  brilliant  success, 
when  Dr.  Warren  of  Boston  asked  the  great  surgeon 


MAGNETISM.  419 

why  he  had  never  repeated  the  experiment,  the  latter 
was  forced  to  acknowledge  that  he  had  not  dared  do  it, 
"because  the  prejudice  against  mesmerism  was  so 
strong  in  Paris  that  a  repetition  would  have  imperiled 
his  position  and  his  reputation ! " 

Since  that  time  mesmerism  has  been  repeatedly,  and 
almost  always  successfully  employed  as  an  ausesthetic; 
Dr.  James  Esdall,  chief  surgeon  of  the  presidency  of 
Calcutta,  having  reduced  the  application  to  a  regular 
method.  Dr.  Forbes  reports  two  cases  of  amputation 
of  the  thigh  in  magnetic  sleep,  which  were  successful, 
and  similar  experiments  have  been  made  in  England, 
and  in  India,  with  the  same  happy  result. 

It  is  probably  a  feature  connected  with  this  insensi- 
bility that  persons  in  magnetic  sleep  can  with  impu- 
nity take  unusually  large  doses  of  medicine,  which  they 
prescribe  for  themselves.  For  magnetic  sleep  seems  to 
develop,  as  we  have  stated,  among  other  magic  phenom- 
ena, a  peculiar  insight  also,  into  diseases  and  their 
remedies.  Although  diseases  may  assume  a  variety  of 
deceptive  forms,  the  predictions  made  by  magnetic 
patients,  many  months  in  advance,  seldom  fail  to  be 
verified.  This  is  a  mere  matter  of  instinct,  for  ignorant 
persons  and  young  children  possess  the  gift  in  equal 
degree  with  the  best-informed  and  most  experienced 
patients.  The  remedies  are  almost  exclusively  so-called 
simples — a  hint  of  some  value  to  physicians — but 
always  prescribed  with  much  judgment,  and  in  a  manT 
ner  evincing  rare  medical  tact.  The  dose,  however,  is 


420  MODERN    MAGIC. 

generally  twice  or  three  times  as  much  as  is  ordinarily 
given.  Magnetic  patients  prescribe  as  successfully  for 
others,  with  whom  they  are  placed  en  rapport,  as  for 
themselves,  since  a  state  of  perfect  clairvoyance  enables 
them  to  judge  of  other  persons  also  with  perfect  accuracy. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  is  mentioned  by  Scho- 
penhauer. ("  Parerga,"  etc.,  I.  p.  246.)  A  consumptive 
patient  in  Russia  directed,  in  her  magnetic  sleep,  the 
attending  physician  to  put  her  for  nine  days  into  a  state 
of  syncope.  He  did  so  reluctantly,  but  during  this 
time  her  system  seemed  to  enjoy  perfect  rest,  and  by 
this  means  she  recovered.  Haddock,  also,  cured  several 
•persons  at  a  distance,  by  following  the  directions  given 
to  him  by  a  patient  of  his  in  her  magnetic  sleep ;  he 
handed  her  a  lock  of  hair,  or  a  few  written  lines,  which 
sufficed  to  put  her  en  rapport  with  the  absent  sufferers. 
Among  the  magic  phenomena  observed  in  magnetic 
sleep  we  must  lastly  mention  ecstatic  elevation  in  the 
air,  the  giving  out  of  peculiar  sounds,  and  the  power  to 
produce  extraordinary  effects  at  a  distance.  Even 
common  somnambulists,  it  is  well  known,  seem  not  to 
be  in  the  same  degree  subject  to  the  laws  of  gravity  as 
persons  in  a  state  of  wakefulness :  hence  their  amazing 
exploits  in  walking  on  roofs,  gliding  along  narrow 
cornices,  or  even  running  up  perpendicular  walls.  Per- 
sons in  magnetic  sleep  have  been  known  to  float  on 
fresh  water  as  well  as  in  the  sea,  although  they  were 
unable  to  swim,  and  sank,  if  they  went  into  the  water 
when  awake.  Dupotel  saw  one  of  his  patients  running 


MAGNETISM.  421 

along  the  side  of  his  room  on  a  small  strip  of  wood 
which  was  merely  tacked  on  to  the  wall,  and  could  not 
have  supported  a  small  weight.  This  peculiar  power 
is  all  the  more  fully  authenticated  as  persons  have  fallen 
from  great  heights,  while  in  magnetic  sleep,  without 
suifering  any  injury ;  but  if  they  are  aroused,  and  then 
fall,  they  invariably  become  subject  again  to  the 
natural  laws,  and  are  often  killed.  This  temporary 
suspension  of  the  law  of  gravity  has  been  compared 
with  similar  phenomena  in  science.  Thus  it  is  well 
known  that  a  galvanic  stream  passing  through  coils  of 
copper  wire  will  hold  an  iron  needle  suspended  within 
the  coils ;  and  an  iron  ball  dropped  into  a  glass  tube 
between  two  powerful  magnets  will  in  the  same  manner 
remain  hanging  free  in  the  air.  The  advocates  of  this 
theory  reason  that  if  magnetism  can  suspend  the  law 
of  gravity  in  metals,  it  is  at  least  possible  that  it  may 
have  a  similar  power  in  the  human  body.  It  has, 
besides,  been  observed  that  certain  affections,  such  as 
violent  nervous  fevers,  increase  the  weight  of  sufferers 
considerably,  while  a  state  of  trance  diminishes  it  even 
more  strikingly. 

With  regard  to  the  magic  phenomena  of  increased 
intelligence,  Abercrombie  mentions  the  case  of  a  girl 
who  as  a  child  had  heard  a  relative  play  the  violin  with 
a  certain  degree  of  mastery.  Later  in  life  she  became 
his  patient,  and  in  her  magnetic  sleep  repeated  uncon- 
sciously some  of  the  pieces  in  tones  very  pleasing  and 
closely  resembling  the  notes  of  a  violin.  Each  parox- 


422  MODERN    MAGIC. 

ysm,  however,  was  succeeded  by  certain  symptoms  of 
her  disease.  Some  years  afterwards  she  imitated  in  like 
manner  the  sounds  of  a  piano  and  the  tones  of  several 
members  of  the  family  who  were  fond  of  singing,  in 
such  a  manner  that  each  voice  could  be  readily  and  dis- 
tinctly recognized.  Another  year  passed,  and  she  con- 
versed with  a  younger  companion,  whom  she  fancied  she 
was  instructing  on  topics  of  political  and  religions  in- 
terest, with  surprising  ability  and  a  frequent  display  of 
wit.  Henceforth  she  led  two  different  kinds  of  life; 
when  awake  she  was  stupid,  awkward  in  her  movements, 
and  unable  to  appreciate  music;  in  her  sleep  she  be- 
came clever  and  showed  amazing  information  and  great 
musical  talents.  At  a  critical  point  in  her  life,  when 
she  was  twenty-one  years  old,  a  complete  change  took 
place  in  the  poor  girl ;  her  conversation  in  her  magnetic 
sleep  lost  all  its  attractions  ;  she  mixed  with  it  improper 
remarks,  and  a  few  months  later  she  had  to  be  sent  to 
an  insane  asylum. 

It  is  only  within  the  present  generation  that  the 
power  possessed  by  some  men  to  magnetize  animals  has 
been  revived,  although  it  was  no  doubt  fully  known  to 
the  ancients,  and  may  in  part  explain  the  taming  of 
venomous  serpents  in  the  East.  The  most  remarkable 
case  is  probably  that  of  Mr.  Jan,  director  of  the  Zoolog- 
ical Gardens  at  Milan,  who  "charms"  serpents  and 
lizards.  In  the  year  1858  he  was  requested  by  a  learned 
visitor,  Professor  Eversmann,  to  allow  him  to  witness 
some  experiments;  he  at  once  seized  a  lizard  (L.  viri- 


MAGNETISM.  423 

dis)  behind  the  head  and  looked  at  it  fixedly  for  a  few 
moments  ;  the  animal  lay  quiet,  then  became  rigid,  and 
remained  in  any  position  which  he  chose  to  make  it  as- 
sume. Upon  making  a  few  passes  with  his  forefinger 
it  closed  its  eyes  at  his  command.  Mr.  Jan  discovered 
his  gift  accidentally  one  day  when  a  whole  bagful  of 
lizards  (L.  ocellata)  had  escaped  from  him,  and  he 
forced  them  by  his  will  and  his  eye,  to  return  to  his 
keeping.  (Der  Zoolog.  Garten.  Frankfort,  1SG1,  p.  58.) 
A  Frenchman,  Tresean,  exercised  the  same  power  over 
birds,  which  he  exhibited  in  I860  in  Paris.  He  mag- 
netized them  with  his  hand  and  his  breath,  but  as 
nme-tenths  of  the  poor  creatures  died  before  they  be- 
came inured  to  such  treatment,  no  advantage  could  be 
derived  from  his  talent.  (Des  Mousseaux,  p.  310.)  A 
countryman  of  his,  Jacques  Pelissier,  is  reported  by  the 
same  authority  to  have  been  able  to  magnetize  not 
only  birds,  which  allowed  themselves  to  be  taken  from 
the  trees,  but  even  hares,  so  that  they  remained  sitting 
in  their  forms  and  were  seized  with  the  hand  (p.  302). 

SOMNAMBULISM. 

It  is  well  known  that  somnambulism,  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  the  word,  designates  the  state  of  persons  who 
suffer  from  an  affection  which  disturbs  their  sleep  and 
causes  them  to  perform  strange  or  ordinary  actions,  as 
it  may  happen,  in  a  state  in  which  they  are  apparently 
half  awake  and  half  asleep.  This  disease  is  already 
mentioned  in  the  most  ancient  authors,  and  its  symp- 


424  MODERN    MAGIC. 

toms  are  correctly  reported  in  Aristotle.  (De  Gcncr. 
Anim.)  He  states  that  the  sufferers  rise  in  their  sleep, 
walk  about  and  converse,  that  they  distinguish  objects 
as  if  they  were  awake,  ascend  trees,  pursue  enemies, 
perform  tasks,  and  then  quietly  return  to  bed.  The 
state  of  somnambulism  seems  to  be  intermediate  be- 
tween ordinary  dreaming  and  magnetic  clairvoyance, 
and  is  probably  the  effect  of  a  serious  disturbance  in 
our  physical  life,  which  causes  the  brain  to  act  in  an 
unusual  and  abnormal  manner.  It  has  always  been 
observed  at  night  only,  and  most  frequently  at  full 
moon,  since  the  moon  seems  to  affect  somnambulists 
not  merely  by  her  light,  but  in  each  of  the  different 
phases  in  a  peculiar  manner.  The  immediate  causes 
of  night- walking  are  often  most  trivial ;  as  Muratori,  for 
instance,  tells  us  of  a  priest  who  became  a  somnambu- 
list whenever  he  neglected  for  more  than  two  months 
to  have  his  hair  cut!  Eichard  (Theorie  tics  Songes,p. 
288)  mentions  an  analogous  case  of  an  old  woman 
whom  he  knew  to  be  subject  to  the  same  penalty. 

While  nightmares  oppress  us  and  make  apparently 
all  motion  impossible,  somnambulism,  on  the  contrary, 
produces  a  peculiar  facility  of  locomotion  and  an  irre- 
sistible impulse  to  mount  eminences,  favored  either  by 
an  actual  diminution  of  specific  gravity,  or  by  an  in- 
crease of  power.  This  tendency  lies  again  half-way 
between  the  sensation  of  flying,  which  is  quite  common 
in  dreams,  and  the  actual  elevation  from  the  ground 
and  suspension  in  the  air,  which  occur  in  extreme 


.MAGNETISM.  425 

cases  of  ecstasy.  The  senses  remain  during  night- 
walking  in  a  state  of  semi-activity;  the  somnambulist 
may  appear  as  if  fast  asleep,  seeing  and  hearing  nothing, 
so  that  the  loudest  noises  and  even  violent  shaking  do 
not  rouse  him;  or  he  may,  like  a  dreamer,  be  partly 
under  the  influence  of  outward  impressions.  One  will 
rise  at  night,  go  to  the  stable,  saddle  his  horse  and  ride 
into  the  woods,  while  another  mounts  the  window- 
ledge  and  performs  all  the  motions  of  a  man  on  horse- 
back. Many  move  with  unfailing  certainty  on  perilous 
paths,  and  find  their  way  in  deepest  darkness ;  others 
make  blunders  and  fall,  as  Professor  J.  Feller  did,  who 
mistook  an  open  window  for  a  door.  By  what  means 
they  perceive  the  nature  of  their  surroundings,  is  still 
unexplained ;  it  may  be  the  action  of  the  ordinary 
senses,  although  these  seem  to  be  closed,  or  they  may 
possess  those  exceptional  faculties  which  constitute 
the  magic  phenomena  connected  with  somnambulism. 
Thus  Forbes  (Brit,  and  For.  Med.  Rev.,  1846)  ascribes 
their  power  to  an  increased  sensitiveness  of  the  retina, 
and  mentions  the  case  of  Dr.  Curry,  who  suffered  from 
this  symptom  to  such  a  degree  that  he  distinguished 
every  object  in  a  completely  darkened  room  with  per- 
fect ease.  In  somnambulists,  however,  the  eyes  are 
generally  closed  or  violently  turned  up;  and  in  the 
rare  cases  in  which  they  are  open,  they  evidently  see 
nothing.  It  is,  besides,  well  established  that  people 
thus  affected  have  continued  to  read,  to  play  on  instru- 
ments, and  even  to  write  after  they  had  fallen  sound 


42(3  MODERN    MAGIC. 

asleep,  and  without  ever  opening  their  eyes.  The  sen- 
sitiveness of  the  retina  could  here  not  avail  much.  A 
case  is  mentioned  of  a  father  who  rose  at  night,  took 
his  child  from  the  cradle,  and  with  wide  open  eyes 
carried  it  up  and  down  the  room,  seeing  nothing,  and 
in  such  a  state  of  utter  unconsciousness  that  his  wife, 
walking  by  his  side,  could  safely  draw  all  his  secrets 
from  him  without  his  becoming  aware  of  the  process  or 
remembering  it  the  next  morning.  At  the  age  of  forty- 
five  he  ceased  to  walk  in  his  sleep,  but,  instead,  had 
prophetic  dreams  which  revealed  to  him  the  occurrences 
of  the  following  day  and  later  future  events.  (Hecr., 
Observ.)  Gassendi  (PJit/s.,  1.  viii.  ch.  8)  mentions  a 
young  man,  living  in  Provence,  who  rose  in  his 
sleep,  dressed,  drew  wine  in  the  cellar,  wrote  up  the 
accounts,  and  in  the  darkest  night  never  touched 
objects  that  were  in  his  way.  If  he  returned  quietly  to 
his  bed,  he  slept  well,  and  strangely  enough,  recalled 
everything  he  had  done  in  the  night;  but  if  he  was 
suddenly  aroused  in  the  cellar  or  in  the  street,  he  was 
seized  with  violent  trembling  and  palpitations  of  the 
heart.  At  times  he  saw  but  imperfectly;  then  he 
fancied  he  had  risen  before  daybreak,  and  lit  a  lamp. 
The  Encydop'cdie  Mctliodique  reports  the  case  of  a 
young  priest  who  wrote  his  sermons  at  night,  and  with 
closed  eyes,  and  then  read  each  page  aloud,  correcting 
and  improving  what  he  had  written.  A  sheet  of  paper 
held  between  his  eyes  and  his  manuscript  did  not 
disturb  him  ;  nor  did  he  become  aware  of  it  if  the  latter 


MAGNETISM.  427 

was  removed  and  blank  paper  was  substituted  ;  in  this 
case  he  wrote  the  corrections  precisely  where  they  would 
have   been    inserted   in   the   text.     Macnish    mentions 
("  On  Sleep,"  p.  148)  the  curious  case  of  an  innkeeper 
in  Germany,  a  huge  mass  of  flesh,  who  fell  asleep  at  all 
times  and  in  all  places,  but  who,  when  this  happened 
while  he  was  playing  cards,  nevertheless  continued  to 
follow  suit,  as  if  he  could  see  what  was  led.    In  1832, 
when   he   was    barely   50   years   old,   he   literally   fell 
asleep,  paralysis  killing  him  instantly  during  one  of 
these  attacks  of  sleep.      The   same  author  mentions 
somnambulists  who  in  their  sleep  walked  to  the  sea- 
shore and  swam  for  some  distance  Avithout  being  Avaked, 
and  the  .case  of  a  Norwegian  Avho  during  his  parox- 
ysms took  a  boat  and   rowed  himself  about  for  some 
time.     He  Avas  cured  of  his  affection  by  a  tub  full  of 
Avater,  Avhich  was  so  placed  that  he  had  to  step  into  it 
when  leaA'ing  his  bed.    In  Scotland  a  peasant  discovered 
from  beloAv  the  nest  of  a  sea-mew,  Avhich  hung  at  an 
inaccessible   height   upon   a   steep  rock ;    some  Aveeks 
aftenvards  he  rose  in  his  sleep,  and  to  the  horror  of  his 
friends,  Avho  Avatched  him  from  below,  climbed  to  the 
place,  took  the  birds,  and  safely  returned  to  his  cabin. 
In  former  ages  somnambulists  were  reported  to  have 
even  committed  murder  in  their  sleep ;  a  Parisian  thus 
rose,  dressed -himself,  sAvam  across  the  Seine,  killed  his 
enemy,  and  returned  the  same  Avay  without  ever  aAvak- 
iug ;  and  an  Englishman  also  is  reported  to  have  mur- 
dered a  boy,  in  a  state  of  unconsciousness,  Avhile  labor- 


428  MODEKN"    MAGIC. 

ing  under  this  affection.  Modern  science,  however, 
knows  nothing  of  such  extreme  cases,  and  the  plea  has 
not  yet  been  used  by  astute  lawyers. 

Simple  somnambulism  is  not  unfrequently  connected 
with  magnetic  somnambulism,  and  may  occasionally  be 
seen  even  in  trances  during  daytime.  In  such  cases 
persons  who  walk  in  their  sleep  may  be  questioned  by 
bystanders,  and  in  their  answers  prove  themselves  not 
unfrequently  able  to  foretell  future  events,  or  to  state 
what  is  occurring  at  a  distance ;  or  they  perform  tasks 
in  their  sleep  which  they  would  not  be  able  to  accom- 
plish when  awake ;  they  compose  music,  write  poetry, 
and  read  works  in  foreign  languages,  without  possessing 
the  requisite  knowledge  and  training.  A  poor  basket- 
weaver  in  Germany  once  heard  a  sermon  which  moved 
him  deeply ;  several  weeks  later  he  rose  at  night,  and 
repeated  the  whole  sermon  from  beginning  to  end ;  his 
wife  tried  in  vain  to  rouse  him,  and  the  next  morning 
he  knew  nothing  of  what  had  happened.  Cases  of 
scholars  who,  sorely  puzzled  by  difficult  problems,  gave 
them  up  before  retiring,  and  then,  in  the  night,  rose  in 
a  state  of  somnambulism,  and  solved  them  easily,  are 
by  no  means  uncommon. 


IX. 
MIRACULOUS  OUEES. 

"  Spiritus  in  nobis  qui  viget,  ilia  facit." — 

CORN.  AGRIPPA,  Ep.  xiv. 

THE  uniform  and  indispensable  condition  of  all  mi- 
raculous cures,  whether  produced  by  prayer,  imposition 
of  hands,  penitential  castigation,  or  magic  power,  is 
faith.  Physician  and  patient  alike  must  believe  that 
disease  is  the  consequence  of  sin,  and  accept  the  literal 
meaning  of  the  Saviour's  words,  when  he  had  cured  the 
impotent  man  near  the  pool  called  Bethesda,  and  said : 
"  Behold,  thou  art  made  whole :  sin  no  more,  lest  a 
worse  thing  come  unto  thee."  (St.  John  v.  14.)  Like 
their  great  teacher,  all  the  apostles  and  saints  of  the 
church  have  ever  insisted  upon  repentance  in  the  heart 
before  health  in  body  could  be  accorded.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  notice,  moreover,  that  all  Oriental  sages,  the 
Kabbalists  and  later  Theosophists,  have,  without 
exception,  adopted  the  same  view,  however  widely  they 
may  have  differed  on  other  points.  In  one  feature  only 
some  disagreed :  they  ascribed  to  evil  spirits  what  others 
attributed  to  sin ;  but  the  difference  is  only  nominal, 
for  men,  by  sin,  enter  into  communion  with  evil  spirits, 
and  become  subject  to  their  power.  Hence  the  woman 
"  which  had  a  spirit  of  infirmity  eighteen  years  ''  was 


430  MODERN   MAGIC. 

said  to  have  been  "bound  by  Satan,"  and  when  she 
was  healed  she  was  "loosed  from  the  bond."  (Luke 
xiii.  16.) 

To  this  common  faith  must  be  added  on  the  part  of 
the  physician  an  energetic  will,  and  in  the  patient  an 
excited  imagination.  The  history  of  all  ages  teaches, 
beyond  the  possibility  of  doubt,  that  where  these 
elements  are  present  results  have  been  obtained  which 
excite  the  marvel  of  men  by  their  astonishing  prompt- 
ness, and  their  apparent  impossibility.  They  seem 
generally  to  be  the  result  of  certain  symbolic  but 
extremely  simple  acts,  snch  as  the  imposition  of  hands 
— which  may  possibly  produce  a  concentration  of 
power — the  utterance  of  a  blessing,  or  merely  a  contin- 
ued, fixed  glance.  The  main  point,  however,  is,  of 
course,  the  psychical  energy  which  is  here  made  available 
by  a  process  as  yet  unknown.  Prayer  is  probably  the 
simplest  agency,  since  it  naturally  encourages  and 
elevates  the  innermost  heart  of  man,  and  fills  him  with 
that  perfect  hope  and  confidence  which  are  necessary 
for  his  recovery.  This  hope  is,  in  the  case  of  miracu- 
lous cures  performed  at  the  shrines  of  saints,  materially 
strengthened  by  the  collective  force  of  all  preceding 
cures,  which  tradition  has  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
mind,  while  the  senses  are  powerfully  impressed,  at  the 
same  time,  by  the  surroundings,  and  especially  the 
votive  offerings  testifying  to  the  reality  of  former  mir- 
acles. In  the  case  of  relics,  where  the  Church  sees 
simply  miracles,  many  men  believe  in  a  continuing 


MIRACULOUS    CUBES.  431 

magic  power  perceptible  only  to  very  sensitive  pa- 
tients ;  thus  the  great  theologian,  Tholuk,  ascribes  to  the 
'•  handkerchiefs  or  aprons"  which  were  brought  from 
the  body  of  St.  Paul,  and  drove  away  diseases  and  evil 
spirits  (Acts  xix.  12),  a  special  curative  power  with 
which  they  were  impregnated.  (Verm.,  Schriftcn,  I. 
p.  80.)  At  certain  times,  when  the  mind  of  a  whole 
people  is  excited,  and  hence  peculiarly  predisposed  to 
meet  powerful  impressions  from  specially  gifted  and 
highly  privileged  persons,  such  miraculous  cures  are,  of 
course,  most  numerous  and  most  striking.  This  was 
the  case,  for  instance,  in  the  first  days  of  Christianity, 
at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  during  the  years 
which  saw  the  Order  of  Jesuits  established.  There  is 
little  to  be  gained,  therefore,  by  confining  the  era  of 
such  phenomena  to  a  certain  period — to  the  days  of  the 
apostles,  when  alone  genuine  miracles  were  performed, 
as  many  divines  believe,  or  to  the  first  three  centuries 
after  Christ,  during  which  Tholuk  and  others  still  see 
magic  performances.  Magnetic  and  miraculous  cures 
differ  not  in  their  nature,  but  only  in  their  first  cause, 
precisely  as  the  trance  of  somnambulists  is  identical 
with  the  trance  of  religious  enthusiasts.  The  difference 
lies  only  in  the  faith  which  performs  the  cure ;  if  it  is 
purely  human,  the  effect  will  be  only  partial,  and  in 
most  cases  ephemeral;  if  divine  faith  and  the  highest 
power  co-operate,  as  in  genuine  miracles,  the  effect  is 
instantaneous  and  permanent.  Hence  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  man  who  at  the  Lord's  bidding  "  took  up  his 


432  MODERN   MAGIC. 

bed  and  walked"  and  the  countless  cripples  who  have 
thrown  aside  their  crutches  at  the  graves  of  saints,  only 
to  resume  them  a  day  or  two  afterward,  when,  with  the 
excitement,  the  newly  acquired  power  also  had  disap- 
peared. But  hence,  also,  the  resemblance  between 
many  acts  of  the  early  Jesuit  Fathers  and  those  of  the 
apostles;  the  intense  energy  of  the  former,  supported 
by  pure  and  unwavering  faith,  produced  results  which 
were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  miraculous.  With  the 
death  of  men  like  St,  Xavier,  and  the  rise  of  worldly 
ambition  in  the  hearts  of  the  Fathers,  this  power  dis- 
appeared, and  modern  miracles  have  become  a  snare  and 
a  delusion  to  simple-minded  believers. 

The  faith  in  such  psychical  power  possessed  by  a  few 
privileged  persons  is  as  old  as  the  world.  Pythagoras 
performed  cures  by  enchantment;  ^Elius  Aristides,  who 
had  consulted  learned  physicians  for  ten  years  in  vain, 
and  Marcus  Antoninus,  were  both  cured  by  incubation. 
Tacitus  tells  us  that  the  Emperor  Vespasian  restored  a 
blind  man's  sight  by  moistening  his  eye  with  saliva,  and 
to  a  lame  man  the  use  of  his  feet  by  treading  hard 
upon  him.  (Hist.  1.  iv..c.  8.)  Both  cures  were  performed 
before  an  immense  crowd  in  Alexandria,  and  in  both 
cases  the  petitioners  had  themselves  indicated  the  means 
by  which  they  were  to  be  restored,  the  emperor  yielding 
only  very  reluctantly  to  their  prayers  and  the  urgent 
requests  of  his  courtiers.  (Sueton.,  Vita  Vespas.)  Pyr- 
rhus,  king  of  Epirus,  had  cured  colic  and  diseases  of 
the  kidneys  by  placing  the  patient  on  his  back  and  touch- 


MIRACULOUS    CUKES.  433 

ing  him  with  his  big  toe  (Plutarch,  Vita  PyrrJii)  ;  and 
hence  Vespasian  and  Hadrian  both  used  the  same 
method! 

The  imposition  of  hands,  for  the  purpose  of  perform- 
ing miraculous  cures,  has  been  practised  from  time 
immemorial ;  Chaldees  and  Brahmins  alike  using  it  in 
cases  of  malignant  diseases.  The  kings  of  England  and 
of  France,  and  even  the  counts  of  Hapsburg  in  Ger- 
many, have  ever  been  reputed  to  be  able  to  cure  goitres 
by  the  touch  of  their  hands,  and  hence  the  complaint 
was  called  the  "  king's  evil."  The  idea  seems  to  -have 
originated  in  the  high  north  ;  King  Olave,  the  saint, 
being  reported  by  Snorre  Sturleson .  as  having  per- 
formed the  ceremony.  From  thence,  no  doubt,  it  was 
carried  to  England,  where  Edward  the  Confessor  seems 
to  have  been  the  first  to  cure  goitres.  In  France  each 
monarch  upon  ascending  the  throne  received  at  the  con- 
secration the  secret  of  the  modus  operandi  and  the 
sacred  formula — for  here  also  the  spoken  word  went 
hand  in  hand  with  the  magic  touch.  Philip  I.  was  the 
first  and  Charles  I.  the  last  monarch  who  performed  the 
cure  publicly,  uttering  the  ancient  phrase :  "  Le  roi  te 
touclic,  Dieu  te  guerisse  !  "  In  a  somewhat  similar  man- 
ner the  Saludadores  and  Ensalmadores  of  Spain  cured, 
not  goitres  and  stammering  only,  as  the  monarchs  we 
have  mentioned,  but  almost  all  the  ills  to  winch  human 
flesh  is  heir,  by  imposition  of  hands,  fervent  prayer 
and  breathing  upon  the  patient. 

Similar  gifts  are  ascribed  to  Eastern  potentates,  and 
19 


434  MODERN   MAGIC. 

the  ruling  dynasty  in  Persia  claims  to  have  inherited 
the  power  of  healing  the  sick  from  an  early  ancestor, 
the  holy  Sheik  Sephy.  The  great  traveler  Chardin 
saw  patients  hardly  able  to  crawl  dragging  themselves 
to  the  feet  of  the  Shah,  and  beseeching  him  only  to  dip 
the  end  .of  his  finger  into  a  bowl  of  water,  and  thus  to 
bestow  upon  it  healing  power.  It  will  excite  little  won- 
der to  learn  that  those  remarkable  men  who  succeeded 
by  the  fire  of  their  eloquence  and  the  power  of  conta- 
gious enthusiasm  to  array  one  world  in  arms  against 
another,  the  authors  of  the  Crusades,  should  have  been 
able  to  perform  miraculous  cures.  Peter  of  Amiens 
and  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  obtained  such  a  hold  on  the 
minds  of  faithful  believers,  that  their  curse  produced 
spasms  and  fearful  sufferings  in  the  guilty,  while  their 
blessing  restored  speech  to  the  dumb,  and  health  to  the 
sick.  Here  also  special  power  was  attributed  even  to 
their  clothes,  and  many  remarkable  results  were  obtained 
by  the  mere  touch.  Spain,  the  home  of  fervent  ascetic 
faith,  abounds  in  saints  who  performed  miracles,  the 
most  successful  of  whom  was  probably  Raimundus 
Normatus  (so  called  because  not  born  of  woman,  but 
cut  from  his  dead  mother's  body  by  skillful  physicians), 
who  cured,  during  the  plague  of  1200,  great  numbers 
of  men  by  the  sign  of  the  cross.  To  this  class  of  men 
belong  also,  as  mentioned  before,  the  early  fathers  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  though  their  powers  were  as  different 
as  their  characters.  Ignatius  Loyola,  who  represented 
the  intelligence  of  the  new  order,  performed  few  mirac- 


MIRACULOUS   CURES.  435 

ulous  cures ;  Xavier,  oil  the  contrary,  the  man  of  bril- 
liant fancy,  was  successful  in  a  great  variety  of  cases. 
The  first  leaders,  like  Loinez,  Salmerou  and  Bobadilla, 
had  no  magic  power  at  all,  but  later  successors,  like 
Ochioa  Carrera  and  Kepel,  displayed  it  in  a  surprising 
degree,  although  Ochioa's  gifts  were  distinctly  limited 
.to  the  healing  of  the  sick  by  the  imposition  of  hands. 
The  whole  period  of  this  intense  excitement  extended 
only  over  sixteen  years,  from  1540  to  1556,  after  which 
the  vivid  faith,  which  had  alone  made  the  cures  possible, 
disappeared.  It  is  worth  mentioning  that  the  Jesuits 
themselves  and  most  of  their  historians  deny  that  they 
ever  had  power  to  perform  miracles,  and  ascribe  the 
cures  to  the  faith  of  the  patients  alone.  St.  Xavier,  it 
is  well  known,  brought  the  dead  to  life  again,  and  even 
if  we  assume  that  they  lay  only  in  syncope  and  had  not 
yet  really  died,  the  recovery  is  scarcely  less  striking. 
The  most  remarkable  of  these  cases  is  that  of  an  only 
daughter  of  a  Japanese  nobleman.  Her  death  stunned 
the  father,  a  great  lord  possessed  of  immense  wealth, 
to  such  a  degree  that  his  friends  feared  for  his 
reason ;  at  last  they  urged  him  to  apply  to  the  great 
missionary  for  help.  He  did  so  ;  the  Jesuit,  filled  with 
compassion,  asked  a  brother  priest  to  join  him  in  prayer, 
and  both  fell  upon  their  knees  and  prayed  with  great 
fervor.  Xavier  returned  to  the  pagan  with  joyous  face 
and  bade  him  take  comfort,  as  his  daughter  was  alive 
and  well.  The  nobleman,  very  unlike  the  father  in 
Holy  Writ,  was  indignant,  thinking  that  the  holy  man 


436  MODERN    MAGIC. 

either  did  not  believe  his  child  had  died  or  refused  to 
assist  him;  but  as  he  went  home,  a  page  came  running 
up  to  meet  him,  bringing  the  welcome  message  that 
his  daughter  was  really  alive  and  well.  She  told  him 
after  his  return,  that  her  soul  upon  leaving  the  body 
had  been  seized  by  hideous  shapes  and  dragged  towards 
an  enormous  fire,  but  that  suddenly  two  excellent  men 
had  interposed,  rescuing  her  from  their  hands,  and  lead- 
ing her  back  to  life.  The  happy  father  immediately  re- 
turned with  her  to  the  holy  man,  and  as  soon  as  his  child 
beheld  Xavier  and  his  companion,  she  fell  down  at  their 
feet  and  declared  that  they  were  the  friends  who  had 
brought  her  back  from  the  lower  world.  Shortly  after- 
wards the  father  and  his  whole  family  became  Christians. 
(Orlandini,  Hist.  Soc.  Jesu.,  ix.  c.  213.)  The  case 
seems  to  be  very  simple,  and  is  one  of  the  most  instruc- 
tive of  modern  magic.  The  girl  was  not  dead,  but  lay 
in  a  cataleptic  trance,  in  which  she  had  visions  of  fear- 
ful scenes,  and  transformed  the  fierce  hold  which  the 
disease  had  on  her  body  into  the  grasp  of  hostile  powers 
trying  to  obtain  possession  of  her  soul.  At  the  same 
time  she  became  clairvoyant,  and  thus  saw  Xavier  and 
his  companion  distinctly  enough  to  recognize  them 
afterwards.  The  cure  was  accomplished  by  the  Al- 
mighty in  answer  to  the  fervent  prayer  of  two  pious 
men  filled  with  pure  faith,  according  to  the  sacred 
promise:  "  The  effectual,  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous 
man  availeth  much."  All  the  more  is  it  to  be  regretted 
that  even  in  those  days  of  genuine  piety  and  rapturous 


MIRACULOUS    CUKES.  437 

faith,  foreign  elements  should  at  once  have  been  mixed 
up  with  the  true  doctrine  ;  for  already  Caspar  Bersaeus 
ascribed  some  of  his  cures  to  the  Holy  Virgin  ;  and 
Boon  the  power  passed  away,  when  the  honor  was  no 
longer  given  to  Him  to  whom  alone  it  was  due. 

From  that  day  the  power  to  perform  miraculous 
cures  has  been  but  rarely  and  exceptionally  granted  to 
a  few  individuals.  Thus  Matthias  "Will,  a  German  di- 
vine of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  as  famous  for  his 
marvelous  power  over  the  sick  and  the  possessed  as  for 
his  fervent  piety,  his  incessant  praying  and  fasting,  and 
his  utter  self-abnegation.  Sufferers  were  brought  to 
him  from  every  part  of  Christendom,  and  hundreds 
who  had  been  given  up  by  their  physicians  were  healed 
by  his  earnest  prayers  and  the  blessing  he  invoked  from 
on  high.  His  memory  still  survives  in  his  home,  and 
an  inscription  on  his  tombstone  records  his  extraordi- 
nary powers.  (Cath.  Encycl.,  Suppl.  I.  1320.)  Even  the 
Jansenists,  with  all  their  hostility  to  certain  usages  of 
the  Church,  had  their  famous  Abbe  Paris,  whose  grave 
in  the  Cemetery  of  St.  Medard  became  in  1727  the 
scene  of  a  number  of  miraculous  cures,  fully  attested 
by  legal  evidence  and  amply  described  by  Montgeron,  a 
man  whom  the  Abbe  had  in  his  lifetime  changed,  from 
a  reckless  profligate  into  a  truly  pious  Christian.  (La 
verite  des  miracles,  etc.,  Paris,  1737.)  The  magic  phe- 
nomena exhibited  on  this  occasion  were  widely  discuss- 
ed and  great  numbers  of  books  and  pamphlets  written 
for  and  against  their  genuineness,  until  the  subject  be- 


438  MODERN    MAGIC. 

came  so  obscured  by  party  spirit  that  it  is  extremely 
difficult,  in  our  day,  to  separate  the  truth  from  its 
large  admixture  of  unreliable  statements.  A  peculiar 
feature  of  these  scenes — admitted  in  its  full  extent  by 
adversaries  even — was  the  perfect  insensibility  of  most 
of  the  enthusiasts,  the  so-called  Conviihionnaires. 
Jansenists  by  conviction,  these  men,  calm  and  cool  in 
their  ordinary  pursuits,  had  been  so  wrought  up  by  re- 
ligious excitement  that  they  fell,  twenty  or  more  at  u 
time,  into  violent  convulsions  and  demanded  to  be 
beaten  with  huge  iron-shod  clubs  in  order  to  be  relieved 
of  an  unbearable  pressure  upon  the  abdomen.  They 
endured,  in  this  manner,  blows  inflicted  upon  the  pit 
of  the  stomach  which  under  ordinary  circumstances 
would  have  caused  grievous  if  not  fatal  consequences. 

The  above-mentioned  witness,  who  saw  their  almost 
incredible  sufferings,  Carre  de  Montgeron,  states  that 
he  himself  used  an  iron  club  ending  in  a  ball  and  weigh- 
ing from  twenty  to  thirty  pounds.  One  of  the  female 
enthusiasts  complained  that  the  ordinary  blows  were 
not  sufficient  to  give  her  relief,  whereupon  he  beat  her 
sixty  times  with  all  his  strength.  But  this  also  was 
unavailing,  and  a  large  and  more  powerful  man  who  was 
standing  near  had  to  take  the  fearful  instrument  and 
with  his  strong  arms  gave  her  a  hundred  additional 
blows!  The  tension  of  her  muscles  must  have  been 
most  extraordinary,  for  she  not  only  bore  the  blows, 
which  would  have  killed  a  strong  person  in  natural 
health,  but  the  wall  against  which  she  was  leaning 


MIRACULOUS   CURES.  439 

actually  began  to  tremble  and  totter  from  the  violent 
concussion.  'Nor  were  the  blows  simply  resisted  by  the 
turgescence  of  the  body ;  the  skin  itself  seemed  to  have 
been  modified  in  a  manner  unknown  in  a  state  of  health. 
Thus  one  of  the  brothel's  Marion  felt  nothing  of 
thrusts  made  by  a  sharp-pointed  knife  against  his  abdo- 
men and  the  skin  was  in  no  instance  injured.  To  do 
this,  the  trance  in  which  he  lay  must  necessarily  have 
induced  an  entire  change  of  the  organic  atoms,  and  this 
is  one  of  the  most  important  magic  phenomena  con- 
nected with  this  class  of  visions,  which  will  be  discussed 
in  another  place. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  cures  performed  at  the  grave 
of  the  Abbe  Paris  and  the  terrible  scenes  enacted  there 
by  these  convulsionnaires  excited  so  much  attention 
that  at  last  the  king  saw  himself  compelled  to  put  a  stop 
to  the  proceedings.  After  a  careful  investigation  of  the 
Avhole  matter  by  men  specially  appointed  for  the  pur- 
pose, the  grounds  were  guarded,  access  was  prohibited, 
and  the  wags  of  Paris  placed  at  the  entrance  the  follow- 
ing announcement : 

"  Defense  de  par  le  Roy.      Defense  a  Dieu, 
De  faire  miracle  en  ee  lieu  !  " 

Ireland  had  in  the  seventeenth  century  her  Great- 
rakes,  who,  according  to  unimpeachable  testimony, 
cured  nearly  every  disease  known  to  man,  by  his  simple 
touch — and  fervent  prayer. 

Valentine  Greatrakes,  of  Waterford,  in  Ireland,  had 
dreamt,  in  1662,  that  he  possessed  the  gift  to  cure  goi- 


440  MODERN    MAGIC. 

tres  by  simple  imposition  of  hands,  after  the  manner  of 
the  kings  of  England  and  of  France.  It  was,  however, 
only  when  the  dream  was  several  times  repeated  that  he 
heeded  it  and  tried  his  power  on  his  wife.  The  success 
he  met  with  in  his  first  effort  encouraged  him  to  at- 
tempt other  cases  also,  and  soon  his  fame  spread  so  far 
that  he  was  sent  for  to  come  to  London  and  perform 
some  cures  at  Whitehall.  He  was  invariably  successful, 
but  had  much  to  endure  from  the  sneers  of  the  courtiers, 
as  he  insisted  upon  curing  animals  as  well  as  men.  His 
cures  were  attested  by  men  of  high  authority,  such  as 
John  Glanville,  chaplain  to  Charles  II.,  Bishop  Rust,  of 
Dromor,  in  Ireland,  several  physicians  of  great  eminence, 
and  the  famous  Robert  Boyle,  the  president  of  the  Royal 
Society.  According  to  their  uniform  testimony  Great- 
rakes  was  a  simple-hearted,  pious  man,  as  far  from  im- 
posture as  from  pretension,  who  firmly  believed  that 
God  had  entrusted  to  him  a  special  power,  and  succeeded 
in  impressing  others  with  the  same  conviction.  His 
method  was  extremely  simple :  he  placed  his  hands  upon 
the  affected  part,  or  rubbed  it  gently  for  some  time, 
whereupon  the  pains,  swellings,  or  ulcers  which  he 
wished  to  cure,  first  subsided  and  then  disappeared  en- 
tirely. It  is  very  remarkable  that  here  also  all  seemed 
to  depend  on  the  nature  of  the  faith  of  the  patient,  for 
according  to  the  measure  of  faith  held  by  the  latter  the 
cure  would  be  either  almost  instantaneous  or  less 
prompt,  and  in  some  cases  requiring  several  days  and 
many  interviews.  He  was  frequently  accused  of  prac- 


MIRACULOUS    CURES.  441 

tising  sorcery  aiicl  witchcraft,  but  the  doctors  Faiselow 
and  Artetius,  as  well  as  Boyle,  defended  him  with  great 
energy,  while  testifying  to  the  reality  of  his  cures. 

One  of  the  best  authenticated,  though  isolated,  cases 
of  this  class  is  the  recovery  of  a  niece  of  Blaise  Pascal,  a 
girl  eleven  years  old.  She  was  at  boarding-school  at 
the  famous  Port  Royal  and  suffered  of  a  terrible  fistula 
in  the  eye,  which  had  caused  her  great  pain  for  three 
years  and  threatened  to  destroy  the  bones  of  her  face. 
"When  her  physicians  proposed  to  her  to  undergo  a  very 
painful  operation  by  means  of  a  red-hot  iron,  some  Jan- 
senists  suggested  that  she  should  first  be  specially 
prayed  for,  while  at  the  same  time  the  affected  place 
was  touched  with  a  thorn  reported  to  have  formed  part 
of  the  crown  of  thorns  of  our  Saviour.  This  was  done, 
and  on  the  following  day  the  swelling  and  inflammation 
had  disappeared,  and  the  eye  recovered.  The  young 
girl  was  officially  examined  by  a  commission  consisting 
of  the  king's  own  physician,  Dr.  Felix,  and  three  dis- 
tinguished surgeons;  but  they  reported  that  neither  art 
nor  nature  had  accomplished  the  cure  and  that  it  was 
exclusively  to  be  ascribed  to  the  direct  interposition  of 
the  Almighty.  The  young  lady  lived  for  twenty-five 
years  longer  and  never  had  a  return  of  her  affection. 
Racine  described  the  case  at  full  length,  and  so  did 
Arnauld  and  Pascal,  all  affirming  the  genuineness  of 
the  miraculous  cure. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  a  Father 
Gassner  created  a  very  great  sensation  in  Germany  by 

19* 


442  MODERN    MAGIC. 

means  of  his  marvelous  cures  and  occasional  exorcisms 
of  evil  spirits.    He  did  not  employ  for  the  latter  pur- 
pose the  usual  ritual  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  simple 
imposition   of  hands  and  invocation  of  the  Saviour. 
Nearly  all  the  patients  who  were  brought  to  him  he 
declared  to  be  under  the  influence  of  evil  spirits,  and 
divided  them  into  three  classes :  circumsessi,  who  were 
only  at  times  attacked,  obsessi,  or  bewitched,  and  pos- 
sessi,  who  were  really  possessed.     When  a  sick  person 
was  brought  to  him,  he  first  ordered  the  evil  spirit  to 
show  himself  and  to  display  all  his  powers ;  then  he 
prayed  fervently  and  commanded  the  demon,  in  the 
name  of  the  Saviour,  to  leave  his  victim.    A  plain,  un- 
pretending man  of  nearly  fifty  years,  he  appeared  dressed 
in  a  red  stole  after  the  fashion  prevailing  at  that  time  in 
his  native  land,  and  wore  a  cross  containing  a  particle  of 
the  holy  cross  suspended  from  a  silver  chain  around  his 
neck.    The  patient  was  placed  before  him  so  that  the 
light  from  the  nearest  window  fell  fully  upon  his  fea- 
tures, and  the  bystanders,  who  always  crowded  the  room, 
could  easily  watch  all  the  proceedings.    Frequently,  he 
would  put  his  stole  upon  the  sufferers'  head,  seize  their 
brow  and  neck  with  outstretched  hands,  and  holding 
them  firmly,   utter  in   a  low  voice  a  fervent  prayer. 
Then,  after  having  given  them  his  cross  to  kiss,  if  they 
were   Catholics,    he   dismissed   them  with    some   plain 
directions  as  to  treatment  and  an  earnest  admonition  to 
remain   steadfast   in   faith.     Probably  the   most  trust- 
worthy account  of  this  remarkable  man  and  his  truly 


MIRACULOUS    CURES.  413 

miraculous  cures  was  published  by  a  learned  and  emi- 
nent physician,  a  Dr.  Schisel,  \vho  called  upon  the  priest 
with  the  open  avowal  that  he  came  as  a  skeptic,  to 
watch  his  proceedings  and  examine  his  method.  He 
became  so  well  convinced  of  Father  Gassner's  powers 
that  he  placed  himself  in  his  hands  as  a  patient,  was 
cured  of  gout  in  an  aggravated  form,  and  excited  the 
utmost  indignation  of  his  professional  brethren  by  can- 
didly avowing  his  conviction  of  the  sincerity  of  the 
priest  and  the  genuineness  of  his  cures. 

There  was,  however,  one  circumstance  connected 
with  the  exceptional  power  of  this  priest,  which  was 
even  more  striking  than  his  cures.  His  Avill  was  so 
marvelously  energetic  and  his  control  over  weaker  minds 
so  perfect  that  he  could  at  pleasure  cause  the  pulse  of 
his  patients  to  slacken  or  to  hasten,  to  make  them 
laugh  or  cry.  sleep  or  wake,  to  see  visions,  and  even  to 
have  epileptic  attacks.  As  may  be  expected,  the  ma- 
jority of  his  visitors  were  women  and  children,  but  these 
were  literally  helpless  instruments  in  his  hands.  They 
not  only  moved  and  acted,  but  even  felt  and  thought 
as  he  bade  them  do,  and  in  many  cases  they  were 
enabled  to  speak  languages  while  under  his  influence 
of  which  they  were  ignorant  before  and  after.  At 
Ratisbon  a  committee  consisting  of  two  physicians  and 
two  priests  was  directed  to  examine  the  priest  and  his 
cures ;  a  professor-  of  anatomy  carefully  watched  the 
pulse  and  the  nerves  of  the  patients  which  wore  selected 
at  haphazard,  and  all  confirmed  the  statements  mado 


444  MODERX    MAGIC. 

before;  while  three  other  professors,  who  had  volun- 
teered to  aid  in  the  investigation,  concurred  with  him 
in  the  conviction  that  there  wa§  neither  collusion  nor 
imposition  to  be  suspected.  The  priest,  who  employed 
no  other  means  but  prayer  and  the  invocation  of  God 
by  the  patients,  was  declared  to  be  acting  in  good  faith, 
from  pure  motives,  and  for  the  best  purposes ;  his  cures 
were  considered  genuine.  There  was,  however,  in 
Father  Gassner's  case  also  an  admixture  of  objection- 
able elements  which  must  not  be  overlooked.  The 
desire  for  notoriety,  which  enters  largely  into  all  such 
displays  of  extraordinary  powers,  led  many  persons  who 
were  perfectly  sound  to  pretend  illness,  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  becoming,  when  cured,  objects  of  public 
wonder.  On  the  other  hand,  the  good  father  himself 
was,  no  doubt,  by  his  own  unexpected  success,  led  to  go 
farther  than  he  would  otherwise  have  done  in  his  sim- 
plicity and  candor.  He  formed  a  complete  theory  of 
his  own  to  explain  the  miracles.  According  to  his  view 
the  first  cause  of  all  such  diseases  as  had  their  origin  in 
"  possession,"  were  the  "  principalities,  powers,  rulers 
of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  and  spiritual  wickedness 
in  high  places/' which  the  apostle  mentions  as  enemies 
more  formidable  than  "  flesh  and  blood."  (Ephes.  vi.  12.) 
These,  he  believed,  dwelt  in  the  air,  and  by  disturbing 
the  atmosphere  with  evil  intent,  produced  illness  in  the 
system  and  delusions  in  the  mind.  If  a  number  eom- 
bined,  and  with  the  permission  of  the  Almighty  poi- 
soned the  air  to  a  large  extent,  contagious  diseases 


MIRACULOUS    CURES.  445 

folio WQd  as  a  natural  consequence.  Against  these 
demons  or  "wiles  of  the  devil"  (Ephes.  vi.  11),  he 
employed  the  only  means  sanctioned  by  Holy  Writ — 
fervent  prayer,  and  this,  of  course,  could  have  no  effect 
unless  the  patient  fully  shared  his  faith.  This  faith, 
again,  he  was  enabled  to  awaken  and  to  strengthen  by 
the  supreme  energy  of  his  will,  but  of  course  not  in  all 
cases ;  where  his  prayer  failed  to  have  the  desired  effect 
he  ascribed  the  disease  to  a  direct  dispensation  from  on 
high,  and  not  to  the  agency  of  evil  spirits,  or  he  de- 
clared the  patient  to  be  wanting  in  faith.  In  like 
manner  he  explained  relapses  as  the  effects  of  waning 
faith.  The  startling  phenomena,  however,  which  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  call  forth  in  his  patients,  before 
he  attempted  their  restoration,  belong  to  what  must  be 
called  the  magic  of  our  day.  For  these  symptoms  bore 
no  relation  to  the  affection  under  which  they  suffered. 
Persons  afflicted  with  sore  wounds,  stiffened  limbs,  or 
sightless  eyes,  would,  at  his  bidding,  fall  into  frightful 
paroxysms,  during  which  the  breathing  intermitted, 
the  nose  became  pointed,  the  eyes  insensible  to  the 
touch,  and  the  whole  body  rigid  and  livid.  And  yet, 
when  the  paroxysm  ceased  at  his  word,  the  patient  felt 
no  evil  effects,  not  even  fatigue,  and  all  that  had  hap- 
pened was  generally  instantly  forgotten.  The  case 
created  an  immense  sensation  throughout  Europe,  and 
the  great  men  of  his  age  took  part  for  or  against  the 
poor  priest,  who  was  sadly  persecuted,  and  only  now 
and  then  found  a  really  able  advocate,  such  as  Lavater. 


446  MODERN    MACK. 

The  heaviest  penalty  lie  had  to  bear  was  the  condemna- 
tion of  his  own  Church,  which  accompanied  an  order 
issued  by  the  Emperor  Joseph  II..  peremptorily  forbid- 
ding all  further  attempts.  The  pope,  Pius  VII.,  who 
had  directed  the  whole  subject  to  be  examined  by  the 
well-known  Congregatio  SS.  Rituum,  declared  in  1777, 
upon  their  report,  that  the  priest's  proceedings  were 
heretical  and  not  any  longer  to  be  permitted,  and  or- 
dered the  bishop,  under  whose  jurisdiction  he  lived,  to 
prevent  any  further  exercise  of  his  pretended  power. 
All  these  decrees  of  papal  councils  and  these  orders  of 
imperial  officials  could,  however,  not  undo  what  the 
poor  priest  had  already  accomplished,  and  history  has 
taught  us  the  relative  value  of  investigations  held  by 
biased  priests,  and  those  carried  out  by  men  of  science. 
We  may  well  doiibt  the  judgment  of  an  authority  which 
once  condemned  a  Galileo,  and  even  now  denounces  the 
press  as  a  curse ;  but  we  have  no  right  to  suspect  the 
opinion  of  men  who,  as  physicians  and  scientists,  are 
naturally  disposed  to  reject  all  claims  of  supernatural 
or  even  exceptional  powers. 

In  more  recent  times  a  Prince  Hohenlohe  in  Ger- 
many claimed  to  have  performed  a  number  of  mirac- 
ulous cures,  beginning  with  a  Princess  Schwarzenberg, 
whom  he  commanded  "in  the  name  of  Christ  to  be  well 
again."  Many  of  his  patients,  however,  were  only  cured 
for  the  moment;  when  their  faith,  excited  to  the 
utmost,  cooled  down  again,  their  infirmities  returned; 
still  there  remain  facts  enough  in  his  life  to  establish 


MIRACULOUS    CURES.  44T 

the  marvelous  power  of  his  strong  will,  when  brought 
to  bear  upon  peculiarly  receptive  imaginations,  and 
aided  by  earnest  prayer.  (Kies,  ArcJnv.  IX.  ii:  311.) 

Sporadic  cases  of  similar  powers  have  of  late  shown 
themselves  in  Paris,  in  the  interior  of  Russia,  and  in 
Ravenna,  but  the  evidence  upon  which  the  statements 
in  public  journals  are  made  is  so  clearly  unreli- 
able that  no  important  result  can  be  hoped  for  from 
their  investigation.  The  present  is  hardly  an  age  of 
faith,  and  enough  has  surely  been  said  to  prove  that 
without  very  great  and  sincere  faith  miraculous  cures 
cannot  be  performed. 


X. 
MYSTICISM. 

"  Credo  quia  absurdum  est." — TEKTULLIAN. 

of  the  most  remarkable  classes  of  magic  pheno- 
mena, which  combines  almost  all  other  known  features 
of  trances  with  the  peculiar  kind  called  stigmati- 
zation,  is  known  as  Mysticism  in  the  more  limited  sense 
of  that  word.  It  bears  this  name  mainly  because  it 
designates  attempts  made  to  unite  in  close  communion 
humanity  with  divinity,  and  however  imperfect  the 
success  of  all  these  efforts  may  be,  on  the  whole,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  in  individual  cases  very  startling 
results  have  been  obtained.  In  order  to  attain  their 
lofty  aim,  the  mystics  require  an  utter  deadening  of  all 
human  affections  and  all  natural  impulses,  and  a 
thorough  change  of  their  usual  thoughts  and  feelings. 
Above  all,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and 
the  pride  of  the  heart  are  to  be  killed  by  pain  ;  hence 
the  mystics  are  quite  content  .to  suffer,  chastise  the 
body,  deny  themselves  the  simplest  enjoyments,  and 
rejoice  in  the  actual  infliction  of  wounds  and  mutila- 
tions. In  return  for  this  complete  deadening  of  human 
affections  they  are  filled  with  an  ineffable  love  of  the 
divine  Saviour,  the  Bridegroom,  and  the  Holy  Virgin, 
the  Bride,  or  even  of  purely  abstract,  impalpable  beings. 


MYSTICISM.  449 

They  enjoy  great  inner  comforts,  and  a  sense  of  happi- 
ness and  peace  which  transcends  all  description.  What- 
ever may,  however,  have  been  the  direct  cause  of  their 
ecstatic  condition,  disease,  asceticism,  self-inflicted  tor- 
ments, or  long-continued  fervent  prayer,  this  highest 
bliss  is  accorded  to  them  only  during  the  time  of  trance. 
Unfortunately  this  period  of  happiness  is  not  only  pain- 
fully short,  but  also  invariably  followed  by  a  powerful 
reaction  ;  according  to  the  laws  of  our  nature,  supreme 
excitement  must  needs  always  subside  into  profound 
exhaustion,  ecstatic  bliss  into  heartrending  despond- 
ency, and  bright  visions  of  heaven  into  despairing  views 
of  unpardonable  sins  and  a  hopeless  future.  Hence  the 
fearful  doctrines  of  the  mystics  of  all  ages,  which  pre- 
scribe continuous  self-denial  as  the  only  way  to  reach 
God,  who  as  yet  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  outward 
world,  but  only  in  the  inner  consciousness  of  the  be- 
liever. If  the  sinner  dare  not  hope  to  approach  the 
Holy  One,  the  repentant  believer  also  is  in  unceas- 
ing danger  of  losing  again  what  he  has  gained  by 
fearful  sacrifices.  The  union  between  him  and  his 
Godjnust  not  only  be  close,  but  uninterrupted,  a  doc- 
trine which  has  led  to  the  great  favor  bestowed  by 
mystics  upon  images  derived  from  earthly  love  :  to  them 
God  is  forever  the  bridegroom,  the  soul  the  bride,  and 
the  union  between  them  the  true  marriage  of  the  faith- 
ful. By  such  training,  skillfully  and  perse vcringly  pur- 
sued, many  persons,  especially  women,  have  succeeded 
in  so  completely  deadening  all  physical  functions  of 


450  MODERN    MAGIC. 

their  body  as  to  reduce  their  life,  literally,  to  the  mere 
operations  of  sensation  and  vision.  The  sufferings  pro- 
duced by  these  efforts  to  suppress  all  natural  vitality,  to 
kill,  as  it  were,  the  living  body,  rendering  the  senses 
inactive,  while  still  in  the  full  vigor  of  their  natural 
condition,  are  often  not  only  painful,  but  actually  ap- 
palling. A  poor  woman,  famous  for  her  asceticism  and 
her  supernatural  visions,  Maria  of  Agreda,  was  never 
able  to  attend  to  her  devotions  in  the  dark,  without 
enduring  actual  agony.  Her  spiritual  light  would  sud- 
denly become  extinguished,  fearful  horrors  fell  upon  her 
soul  and  caused  her  unspeakable  anguish,  terrible  im- 
ages as  of  wild  beasts  and  fierce  demons  surrounded  her, 
the  air  was  filled  with  curses  and  unbearable  blasphe- 
mies, and  even  her  body  \vas  seized  with  wild,  convulsive 
movements  and  violent  spasms.  No  wonder,  therefore, 
that  numbers  of  these  mystics  have  lost  their  reason, 
and  others  have  fallen  victims  to  terrible  diseases.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  many  also  have 
been  eminent  examples  of  self-denial  and  matchless  de- 
votion, or  genuine  heroes  in  combating  for  their  sacred 
faith  and  the  love  of  their  brethren.  Their  very  errors 
were  so  attractive  that  the  fundamental  mistake  was 
forgotten,  and  all  felt  how  little,  men  who  act  upon  mere 
ordinary  motives,  are  able  to  rise  to  the  same  height  of  self- 
sacrifice.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten,  in  judging  especially 
the  mystics  of  our  days,  that  their  sincerity  can  never  be 
doubted:  they  have  always  acted,  and  still  act  upon  gen- 
uine conviction,  and  in  the  firm  belief  that  their  work  is 


MYSTICISM.  451 

meritorious,  not  in  the  eyes  of  men,  but  before  the  Al- 
mighty. The  ascetics  of  former  ages  are  not  'so  easily 
understood ;  they  were  men  who  proposed  not  only  to 
limit  the  amenities  of  life,  but  to  make  our  whole  earthly 
existence  subservient  to  purely  divine  purposes;  and 
thus,  for  instance,  Francis  of  Assisi,  prescribed  absolute 
poverty  as  the  rule  of  his  order.  The  principal  magic 
phenomena  accompanying  religious  ecstasy  are  the  in- 
sensibility of  the  body  to  all,  even  the  most  violent  in- 
juries, and  the  perception  of  matters  beyond  the  reach  of 
our  senses  in  healthy  life.  Eigid  and  long-continued 
fasting,  reduced  sleep  on  a  hard  couch,  and  an  utter  ab- 
stinence from  all  other  thoughts  or  sentiments  but  such 
as  connect  themselves  directly  Avith  a  higher  life,  never 
fail  to  produce  the  desired  effect.  By  such  means  the 
whole  nature  of  man  is  finally  changed  ;  not  only  in  the 
legitimate  relations  existing  between  body  and  mind,  but 
also  in  those  which  connect  man  with  nature:  the 
changes  are,  therefore,  as  much  physiological  as  psychi- 
cal. They  result  at  last  in  the  acquisition  of  a  power 
which  in  the  eyes  of  the  mystics  is  identical  with  that 
promised  in  Mark  xvi.  18.  '''They  shall  take  up  ser- 
pents, and  if  they  drink  any  deadly  thing,  it  shall  not 
hurt  them."  Extraordinary  as  the  accounts  of  the  suf- 
ferings and  the  exceptional  powers  of  mystics  appear  to 
us,  they  are  in  many  instances  too  well  authenticated  to 
allow  any  serious  doubt.  Thus  a  famous  ascetic,  Eosa 
of  Lima,  was  actually  injured  by  healthy  food,  but  on 
many  occasions  instantaneously  strengthened  by  a  mere 


452  MODERN    MAGIC. 

mouthful  of  bread  dipped  into  pure  water;  Bernard 
of  Clairvaux  lived  for  a  considerable  time  on  beech-leaves 
boiled  in  water,  and  Maria  of  Oignys  once  subsisted  for 
thirty-five  days  on  the  holy  wafer  of  the  sacrament,  which 
she  took  daily.  Mystics  who,  like  the  latter,  derived 
bodily  sustenance  as  well  as  spiritual  comfort  from  the 
Eucharist,  are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  annals  of 
the  Church.  Others,  again,  succeeded  by  constant  and 
extreme  excitement  to  heat  their  blood  to  such  an  extent 
that  they  became  insensible  to  outward  cold,  even  when 
the  frosts  of  winter  became  intolerable  to  others.  The 
heart  itself  seems  to  be  affected  by  such  extreme  elation ; 
in  Catherine  of  Siena  its  violent  palpitations  and 
convulsive  jerkings  could  be  both  seen  and  felt,  when  she 
was  in  a  state  of  ecstasis,  and  the  heart  of  Filippo  Neri 
was  found,  after  death,  to  have  been  considerably  en- 
larged, and  actually  to  have  broken  two  ribs  by  its 
convulsive  spasms. 

Among  the  rarer  but  equally  well-established  magic 
phenomena  of  this  class  must  be  counted  the  tempora- 
ry'suspension  of  the  law  of  gravity.  Like  the  Brah- 
mins of  India,  who  have  long  possessed  the  power  of  rais- 
ing themselves  unaided  from  the  ground  and  of  remain- 
ing suspended  in  the  air,  Christian  mystics  also  have 
been  seen,  more  than  once,  to  hang  as  it  were  unsup- 
.ported  high  above  the  ground.  They  quote,  in  support 
of  their  faith  in  such  exceptional  powers,  the  fact  that 
Habakkuk  also  was  seized  by  an  angel  and  carried 
away  through  the  air,  while  even  the  Saviour  was  taken 


MYSTICISM.  453 

by  the  devil  to  an  exceeding  high  mountain  on  the  top 
of  the  temple,  cases  in  which  the  laws  of  gravity  must 
have  been  similarly  suspended. 

A  large  number  of  holy  men,  among  whom  were  Fi- 
lippo  Neri,  Ignatius  Loyola,  and  the  founder  of  the 
order  of  Dominicans,  remained  thus  suspended  in  the 
air  for  hours  and  days ;  one  of  them,  the  Carmelite 
monk  P.  Dominions,  in  the  presence  of  the  king  and 
queen  of  Spain  and  their  whole  court.  (Calmet,  p.  153.) 
There  are  even  cases  known  in  which  this  raising  of 
the  body  has  happened  to  pious  persons  against  their 
own  desire  and  to  their  great  and  sincere  distress,  as  it 
attracted  public  attention  in  a  most  painful  degree.  To 
this  class  of  phenomena  belongs  also  the  luminous  ap- 
pearance which  seems  at  times  to  accompany  a  high 
state  of  religious  excitement.  This  was  already  the 
case  with  Moses,  who  "  wist  not  that  the  skin  of  his  face 
shone,"  and  probably  of  Stephen  also,  when  those 
"  that  sat  in  council,  looking  steadfastly  on  him,  saw 
his  face  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel." 

The  most  startling  of  these  phenomena,  however,  are 
those  known  as  stigmatization,  when  the  combined 
power  of  fervent,  exalted  faith  and  an  over-excited  im- 
agination produces  actual  marks  of  injuries  on  the 
body,  although  no  such  injuries  have  ever  been  inflict- 
ed. The  annals  of  the  Church  abound  with  instances 
of  women  especially  who.  after  long  meditation  on  the 
nature  and  the  merits  of  crucifixion  have  borne  the 
marks  of  nails  in  hands  and  feet,  an  effect  which  the 


454  MODERN    MAGIC. 

science  of  medicine  also  admits  as  possible,  inasmuch 
as  similar  results  are  of  not  unfrequent  occurrence,  at 
least  in  newborn  infants,  whose  bodies  are  marked  in 
consequence  of  events  which  had  recently  made  a  pe- 
culiarly deep  impression  upon  the  mothers. 

Unfortunately  mysticism  also  has  not  been  able  to 
keep  its  votaries  free  from  an  admixture  of  imposture. 
False  miracles  are  known  to  have  occurred  within  the 
Church  as  well  as  without  it,  and  credulity  has  accepted 
many  a  statement  that  could  not  have  stood  the  sim- 
plest investigation.  It  becomes  the  careful  student, 
therefore,  here  also  to  distinguish  with  the  utmost  cau- 
tion genuine  and  well-authenticated  facts  from  reckless 
or  willfully  false  statements.  Even  then,  however,  he 
ought  not  to  forget  the  words  of  Pascal,  who,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  apostles  said:  "I  am  quite  willing  to  believe 
stories  for  whose  truthfulness  the  witnesses  have  suffer- 
ed death."  It  is  even  by  no  means  improbable  that  the 
spiritual  world  may  have  its  changing  productions  as 
well  as  the  material  world,  and  as  the  organisms  of  the 
Silurian  period  are  impossible  in  our  day,  so-culled 
magic  results  may  have  been  obtained  by  certain  for- 
mer generations  which  lie  beyond  the  power  of  our 
own.  No  one  can  with  certainty  determine,  in  this  di- 
rection, what  is  possible  and  what  is  impossible ;  the 
power  of  man  is  emphatically  a  relative  one,  and  each 
exploit  must,  in  fairness,  be  judged  with  a  view  to  all 
the  accompanying  circumstances.  It  is  as  impossible 
for  the  men  of  our  day  to  erect  pyramids  sucli  as  the 


MYSTICISM.  455 

old  Egyptians  built,  as  it  is  for  an  individual  in  good 
health  to  perform  feats  of  strength  of  which  he  may 
be  capable  under  the  influence  of  high  fever  or  violent 
paroxysms. 

A  curious  feature  in  these  phenomena  is  the  intimate 
relation  in  which  sacred  and  so-called  demoniac  influ- 
ences seem  to  stand  with  one  another.  The  saints  are 
represented  as  tempted  by  evil  spirits  which  yet  have 
no  existence  except  in  their  own  heart,  and  the  pos- 
sessed, on  the  other  hand,  occasionally  have  pious  im- 
pulses and  holy  thoughts.  In  the  former  case  it  is  the 
innate  sinfulness  of  the  heart  which  creates  images  of 
demons  such  as  St.  Anthony  saw  in  the  desert ;  in  the 
latter  case  the  guardian  angels  of  men  are  said  to  come 
to  their  rescue.  There  are  even  instances  on  record  of 
men  who  have  wantonly  given  themselves  up  to  the 
temporary  influence  of  evil  spirits — under  the  impres- 
sion that  they  could  thus  please  God! — as  travelers  pur- 
posely suffer  the  evil  effects  of  opium  or  hasheesh  in  or- 
der to  test  their  powers.  Thus  mysticism  finally  de- 
vised a  complete  system  of  angels,  saints,  and  demons, 
whose  varied  forms  and  peculiarities  became  familiar  to 
votaries  at  an  early  period  of  their  lives,  and  filled  their 
minds  with  images  which  afterwards  assumed  an  ap- 
parent reality  during  the  state  of  trance.  That  the 
physical  condition  enters  as  a  powerful  element  in  all 
these  phenomena  appears  clearly  from  the  fact  that 
whenever  women  are  liable  to  trances  or  visions  of  this 
kind  the  latter  vary  regularly  with  their  state  of  health, 


456  MODERN    MAGIC. 

and  ill  the  majority  of  cases  cease  at  a  certain  age. 
This  fact  illustrates  in  a  very  characteristic  manner  the 
mutual  relations  between  body  and  soul;  the  condition 
of  the  former  is  reflected  in  the  soul  by  sentiment  and 
image,  and  the  soul  in  precisely  th,e  same  manner  im- 
presses itself  upon  the  body.  Generally  this  is  limited 
to  the  face,  where  the  features  in  their  expression  re- 
produce more  or  less  faithfully  what  is  going  on  with- 
in; but  in  exceptional  cases  the  psychical  events 
cause  certain  mechanical  or  physical  changes  in  the 
body  which  now  and  then  result  in  actual  illness  or 
become  even  fatal.  Experience  proves  that  if  the  im- 
agination is  stimulated  to  excessive  activity,  it  can  pro- 
duce changes  in  the  nature  of  the  epidermis  or  even  of 
the  mucous  membrane,  which  resemble  in  everything 
the  symptoms  of  genuine  diseases.  There  are  men 
who  can,  by  an  energetic  effort  of  will,  cause  red  spots, 
resembling  inflammation,  to  appear  in  almost  every 
part  of  the  body.  In  extreme  cases  this  power  extends 
to  the  production  of  syncope,  in  which  they  become  ut- 
terly insensible  to  injuries  of  any  kind,  lose  all  power 
of  motion,  and  even  cease  to  breathe.  St.  Augustine 
mentions  a  number  of  such  cases.  (De  civit.  Dei, 
1.  xiv.  ch.  24.)  The  remarkable  power  of  Colonel 
Townshend  of  falling  into  a  state  of  syncope  is  too  well 
established  to  admit  of  any  doubt ;  he  became  icy  cold 
and  rigid,  his  heart  ceased  to  beat  and  his  lungs  to 
breathe ;  the  face  turned  deadly  pale,  the  features  grew 
sharp  and  pointed,  and  his  eyes  remained  fixed.  By  an 


MYSTICISM.  457 

effort  of  his  own  will  he  could  recall  himself  to  life,  but 
one  evening,  when  he  tried  to  repeat  the  experiment, 
after  having  made  it  in  the  morning  successfully  in  the 
presence  of  three  physicians,  he  failed  to  awake  again. 
It  appeared  afterwards  that  his  heart  was  diseased ;  he 
had,  however,  at  the  same  time,  by  careful  attention 
and  long  practice,  obtained  almost  perfect  control  over 
that  organ.  (Cheyne,  "  Encyl.  Malady,"  London.,  1733,  p. 
307.)  Indian  fakirs  have  been  known  to  possess  a  sim- 
ilar power,  and  have  allowed  themselves  to  be  buried 
in  air-tight  graves,  where  they  have  been  watched  at 
times  for  forty  days,  by  military  guards,  and  yet  at  the 
expiration  of  that  time  have  returned  to  life  withoiit  ap- 
parent injury.  A  similar  power  over  less  vital  organs  of 
the  body  is  by  no  means  rare  ;  men  are  constantly  found 
who  can  at  will  conceal  their  tongue  so  that  even  sur- 
geons discover  it  but  with  difficulty ;  others,  like  Jus- 
tinus  Kerner,  can  empty  their  stomachs  of  their  con- 
tents as  if  they  were  pockets,  or  contract  and  enlarge 
the  pupils  of  the  eyes  at  pleasure.  Nor  are  cases  of  In- 
dians and  negroes  rare,  who  in  their  despair  have  died 
merely  because  they  willed  it  so.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  therefore,  that  if  mere  volition  can  produce  such 
extraordinary  results,  still  more  exceptional  effects  may 
be  obtained  by  fervent  faith  and  an  excessive  stimula- 
tion of  the  whole  nervous  system,  and  much  that  ap- 
pears either  incredible  or  at  least  in  the  highest  degree 
marvelous  may  find  an  easy  and  yet  satisfactory  expla- 
nation. 

20 


458  MODERN   MAGIC. 

Genuine  stigmatization,  that  is,  the  appearance  of  the 
five  wounds  of  our  Saviour,  presents  itself  ordinarily 
only  after  many  years  of  constant  meditation  of  his  pas- 
sion, combined  with  excessive  fasting  and  other  ascetic 
self-torment.  The  first  stage  is  apt  to  be  a  vision  of 
Christ's  suffering,  accompanied  by  the  offer  of  a  wreath 
of  flowers  or  a  crown  of  thorns.  If  the  mystic  chooses  the 
former,  the  result  remains  within  the  limits  of  the  gen- 
eral effects  of  asceticism  ;  should  he,  however,  choose 
the  crown  of  thorns,  the  stigmas  themselves  are  apt  to 
appear.  This  occurs,  naturally,  only  in  the  very  rare 
cases,  where  the  mystic  possesses  that  exceptional 
energy  and  intense  plastic  power  of  the  imagination 
which  are  requisite  in  order  to  suspend  the  natural 
relations  of  soul  and  body.  Then  the  latter,  already 
thoroughly  weakened  and  exhausted,  becomes  so  sus- 
ceptible to  the  influence  of  the  soul,  that  it  reproduces, 
spontaneously  and  unconsciously,  the  impressions 
deeply  engraven  on  the  mind,  and  during  the  next 
ecstatic  visions  the  wounds  show  themselves  suddenly. 
Their  appearance  is  invariably  accompanied  by  violent 
pain,  which  seems  to  radiate,  in  fiery  burning  darts  from 
the  wounds  of  the  image  of  Christ.  As  the  minds  of 
mystics  differ  infinitely  in  energy  of  will  and  clearness 
of  perception,  the  stigmas  also  are  seen  more  or  less 
distinctly ;  and  their  nature  varies  from  mere  reddish 
points,  which  become  visible  on  the  head,  as  the  effect 
of  a  crown  of  thorns,  to  real  bleeding  wounds.  The 
former  are  apt  to  disappear  as  the  excitement  subsides 


MYSTICISM.  459 

or  the  will  is  weakened ;  the  latter,  however,  are  peculiar 
in  this,  that  they  do  not  continue  to  bleed,  and  yet,  also, 
do  not  heal  up.  In  women,  only,  they  are  apt  to  break 
out  again  at  regular  intervals,  for  instance,  on  Fridays, 
when  the  mystic  excitement  again  reaches  its  highest 
degree,  or  at  other  periods  whe  n  pressure  of  blood  seeks 
an  outlet  through  these  new  openings.  As  such  a  state 
can  continue  only  by  means  of  lengthened  inflamma- 
tion, stigmatization  is  always  accompanied  by  violent 
pains  and  great  suffering,  especially  during  the  bleed- 
ing. 

The  earliest  of  all  cases  of  stigmatization — of  which 
nearly  seventy  are  fully  authenticated — was  that  of 
Francis  of  Assisi,  who,  after  having  spent  years  in  fer- 
vent prayer  for  permission  to  share  the  sufferings  of  the 
Saviour,  at  last  saw  a  seraph  with  six  wings  descend 
toward  him,  and  between  the  wings  the  form  of  a  cruci- 
fied person.  At  the  same  moment  he  felt  piercing 
pains,  and  when  he  recovered  from  his  trance  he  found 
his  hands  and  feet,  as  well  as  his  side,  bleeding  as  from 
severe  wounds,  and  strange,  dark  excrescences,  resem- 
bling nails,  protruding  from  the  wounds  in  his  extremi- 
ties. As  this  was  the  first  case  of  stigmatizatiou  known, 
Francis  of  Assisi  was  filled  with  grave  doubts  concern- 
ing the  strange  phenomenon,  and  carefully  concealed  it 
from  all  but  his  most  intimate  friends.  Still  the  wounds 
were  seen  and  felt  by  Pope  Alexander  and  a  number  of 
cardinals  during  his  lifetime,  and  became  an  object  of 
careful  investigation  after  his  death.  (Philalethes' 


460  MODERN   MAGIC. 

Divina  Comm.,  Paradiso,  p.  144.)  There  is  but  one 
other  case,  as  fully  authenticated,  in  which  a  man  was 
thus  stigmatized;  all  other  trustworthy  instances  are 
related  of  females.  How  close  the  connection  is 
between  the  will  and  the  appearance  of  these  phenom- 
ena may  be  seen  from  one  of  the  best-established 
cases,  that  of  Joanna  of  Burgos,  in  Spain,  who  had 
shed  much  blood  every  week  for  twenty  years  in  follow- 
ing the  recital  of  the  passion  of  our  Saviour.  When 
she  was  seventy  years  old,  her  superiors  prevailed  upon 
her,  by  special  arguments,  to  pray  fervently  for  a 
suspension  of  her  sufferings.  She  threAV  herself  down 
before  a  crucifix,  and  remained  there  a  day  and  a  night 
in  incessant  prayer;  on  the  next  morning  the  wounds 
had  closed,  and  never  again  commenced  bleeding. 
Another  evidence  of  this  feature  lies  in  the  fact  that 
stigmatization  occurs  mainly  in  Italy,  the  land  of 
imagination,  and  in  Spain,  the  land  of  devotion;  in 
Germany  only  a  few  cases  are  known,  and  not  one  in 
the  North  of  Europe  and  in  America. 

Among  the  famous  mystics  who  do  not  belong  as 
saints  or  martyrs  exclusively  to  the  Church,  stand  first 
and  foremost  Henry  Suso,  of  the  "  Living  Heart,"  and 
John  Euysbroek,  the  so-called  Doctor  Ecstaticus.  The 
former,  who  often  had  trances,  and  once  lay  for  a  long 
time  in  syncope,  has  left  behind  him  some  of  the  most 
attractive  works  ever  written  by  religious  enthusiasts. 
He  lived  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  when,  two 
hundred  years  later,  his  grave  was  opened  the  body  was 


MYSTICISM.  401 

found  unchanged,  and  fervent  admirers  believed  they 
perceived  pleasing  odors  emanating  from  the  remains. 
The  Dutch  divine  Ruysbroek  was  even  more  renowned 
by  his  holy  life  and  admirable  writings  than  by  the 
many  marvelous  visions  which  he  enjoyed.  The  same 
century  produced  the  most  famous  preacher  Germany 
has  probably  ever  seen,  John  Capistran,  who  attracted 
the  masses  by  the  magic  power  of  his  individuality  and 
held  them  spell-bound  by  his  burning  eloquence.  A 
native  of  Capistrano,  in  the  Abruzzi,  where  he  was  born  in 
1385,  he  became  first  a  lawyer,  and  gained  great  distinc- 
tion as  such  in  Sicily.  Unfortunately  he  was  engaged 
in  one  of  the  many  petty  wars  which  at  that  time  dis- 
tracted Italy ;  was  made  a  prisoner  and  cast  with 
barbaric  cruelty  into  a  foul  dungeon.  Here  he  devoted 
himself  to  ascetic  devotion,  and  had  a  vision  ordering 
him  to  leave  the  world.  When  he  regained  his  liberty, 
at  the  age  of  thirty,  he  entered  the  order  of  Franciscan 
monks,  and  soon  became  a  preacher  of  world-wide 
renown.  Traveling  through  Italy,  Hungary,  and  Ger- 
many, lie  aifected  his  audiences  by  his  mere  appearance, 
and  produced  truly  amazing  changes  in  the  hearts  of 
thousands.  In  Vienna  he  once  preached,  in  the  open 
air,  before  an  assembly  of  more  than  a  hundred  thou- 
sand men ;  the  people  listened  to  him  for  hours  amid 
loud  weeping  and  sobbing,  and  great  numbers  were 
converted,  including  several  hundred  Jews.  In  Bohemia 
he  induced  in  like  manner  eleven  thousand  Hussites  to 
return  to  the  Catholic  Church,  among  whom  were 


462  MODERN   MAGIC. 

numerous  noblemen  and  ministers.  Similar  successes 
were  obtained  in  almost  every  large  town  of  Germany, 
till  he  was  recalled  to  the  South,  when  Germany  be- 
came indebted  to  him  and  to  John  Corvin  for  its  deliv- 
erance from  the  Turks  and  the  famous  victory  of  Bel- 
grade in  1456.  During  his  whole  career  he  continued  to 
have  ecstatic  visions,  to  fall  into  trances  of  considerable 
duration,  and  to  behold  stigmas  on  his  body — yet, 
withal,  he  remained  an  eminently  practical  man,  not 
only  converting  many  thousands  from  their  religious 
errors,  but  turning  them  also  from  vicious  habits  and 
criminal  pursuits  to  a  life  of  virtue.  At  the  same 
time  he  rendered  signal  services  to  his  brethren  in  mere 
worldly  matters,  now  pleading  and  now  fighting  for 
them  with  an  energy  and  a  success  which  alone  would 
secure  him  a  name  in  history.  The  ecstatic  nature  of 
another  mystic,  Vincentio  Ferrer,  produced  a  singular 
effect,  which  has  never  been  noticed  except  in  biblical 
history.  He  was  a  native  of  Valencia,  and,  knowing  no 
language  but  the  local  dialect  of  his  country,  he  con- 
tinued throughout  life  to  preach  in  his  mother  tongue 
— and  yet  he  was  understood  by  all  who  heard  him ! 
This  result  was  at  least  partially  explained  by  the 
astounding  flexibility  of  his  voice,  which  at  all  times 
adapted  itself  so  completely  to  his  feelings,  that  its 
tones  found  a  responsive  echo  in  every  heart.  In  vain 
did  the  pope,  Benedict  XIII.,  offer  him  first  a  bishopric 
and  afterwards  a  cardinal's  hat ;  the  pious  monk  refused 
all  honors  save  one,  the  title  of  Papal  Missionary,  and 


MYSTICISM.  4G3 

in  this  capacity  he  passed  through  nearly  every  land  in 
Christendom,  preaching  and  exhorting  day  and  night, 
exciting  everywhere  the  utmost  enthusiasm  and  con- 
verting thousands  from  their  evil  ways.  His  eloquence 
and  fervor  were  so  great  that  even  learned  men  and 
fierce  warriors  declared  he  spoke  with  the  voice  of 
an  angel,  and  criminals  of  deepest  dye  would  fall  down 
in  the  midst  of  great  crowds,  confessing  their  misdeeds 
and  solemnly  vowing  repentance  and  amendment. 

The  greatest  of  all  mystics,  however,  was  the  before- 
mentioned  Filippo  Neri,  a  saint  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
whose  simple  candor  and  truly  Christian  humility  have 
procured  for  him  the  esteem  and  the  admiration  of 
men  of  all  creeds  and  all  ages.  Even  as  a  mere  child 
he  was  already  renowned  for  his  extraordinary  gifts  as 
well  as  for  his  fervent  piety  j  while  still  a  layman  he 
had  numerous  visions  and  trances,  and  when  in  his 
thirtieth  year  he  had  prayed  for  days  and  nights  in  the 
Catacombs  of  St.  Sebastian,  his  heart  became  suddenly 
so  enlarged  that  some  of  the  intercostal  muscles  gave 
way,  and  a  great  swelling  appeared  on  the  outside,  which 
remained  there  throughout  life,  although  without  caus- 
ing him  any  pain.  His  inner  fervor  was  so  great  as  to 
keep  his  blood  and  his  whole  system  continually  at 
fever  heat,  and  although  he  lived  exclusively  upon 
bread,  herbs,  and  olives,  he  never  wore  warm  clothes, 
even  in  the  severest  winters,  always  slept  with  open 
doors  and  windows,  and  preferred  walking  about  with 
his  breast  uncovered.  During  the  last  ten  years  of  his 


464  MODERN   MAGIC. 

life  his  body  was  no  longer  able  to  sustain  his  ecstatic 
soul ;  whenever  he  attempted  to  read  mass  or  to  preach, 
his  feelings  became  so  excited  that  his  voice  failed  him, 
and  he  fell  into  a  trance  of  several  hours'  duration.  It 
was  in  this  condition  that  he  was  frequently  lifted  up, 
together  with  the  chair  on  which  he  sat,  to  a  height  of 
several  feet  from  the  ground.  What  renders  these 
magic  phenomena  peculiarly  interesting,  is  the  fact  that 
Filippo  Neri  not  only  attached  no  special  value  to  them, 
but  actually  did  his  best  to  conceal  them  from  the  eyes 
of  the  world.  As  soon  as  they  began  to  show  them- 
selves, he  ceased  reading  mass  in  the  presence  of  others, 
and  only  allowed  his  attendant  to  re-enter  his  cell  when 
the  latter  had  convinced  himself,  by  peeping  through  a 
narrow  opening  in  the  door,  that  the  trance  was  over. 
When  others  praised  his  piety  and  marveled  at  these 
wonders,  he  invariably  smiled  and  said:  "Don't  you 
know  that  I  am  nothing  but  a  fool  and  a  dreamer  ?  " 

He  added  that  he  would  infinitely  rather  do  works 
which  should  prove  his  faith  than  be  the  recipient  of 
miraculous  favors.  But  his  prestige  was  so  great  that 
whenever  he  was  prevailed  upon  or  thought  it  his  duty 
to  exert  his  influence,  it  was  paramount,  and  secured 
to  him  a  powerful  control  in  historical  events.  Thus  it 
was  when  Pope  Gregory  XIV.  had  excommunicated 
King  Henry  IV.,  and  his  successor,  Clement  VIII., 
continued  the  fearful  punishment  in  spite  of  all  the 
entreaties  of  king  and  courtiers.  Filippo  Xeri,  fore- 
seeing the  dangers  which  were  likely  to  arise  from  such 


MYSTICISM.  465 

measures  for  the  Church,  and  deeply  concerned  for  the 
welfare  of  the  French  people,  retired  to  prayer,  inviting 
the  pope's  confessor  to  join  him  in  his  devotions.  These 
had  been  continued  for  three  days  without  intermis- 
sion, when  at  last  the  saint  fell  into  a  trance,  and  upon 
re-awaking  from  it,  told  his  companion  :  "  To-day  the 
pope  will  send  for  you  to  confess  him.  You  will  tell 
him,  when  his  confession  is  made :  '  Father  Filippo  has 
directed  me  to  refuse  Your  Holiness  absolution,  and 
ever  to  confess  you  again  till  you  have  relieved  the 
King  of  France  from  excommunication.'"  Clement, 
deeply  moved  by  this  message,  summoned  immediately 
the  council  of  cardinals,  and  Henry  IV.  was  once  more' 
received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  In  spite  of 
this  great  influence,  Neri  sternly  refused  all  honors  and 
dignities,  even  the  purple,  which  was  offered  to  him 
three  times,  and  died  in  1595,  eighty  years  old,  on  the 
day  and  at  the  hour  which  he  had  long  since  foretold. 
That  his  visions  were  accompanied  by  actual  stigmati- 
zation  has  already  been  mentioned. 

Our  own  continent  has  had  but  one  great  mystic, 
Rosa  of  Lima,  who  is  hence  known  as  primus  Americce 
mcridionalis  flos.  She  had  inherited  her  peculiar  or- 
ganization from  her  mother,  who  had  frequently  seen 
visions,  and  when  the  child  was  three  years  old,  changed 
her  name  from  Isabel  to  Eosa,  because  she  had  seen  a 
rose  suspended  over  the  face  of  her  daughter.  Much  ad- 
mired on  account  of  her  great  beauty  and  rare  sweet- 
ness, the  young  girl  refused  all  offers,  and  preferred,  in 


46G  MODERN   MAGIC. 

spite-  of  the  remonstrances  of  friends  and  of  brutal  ill- 
treatment  on  the  part  of  her  brothers,  to  enter  a  con- 
vent. On  her  way  there,  however,  she  felt  her  steps 
suddenly  arrested  by  superior  force,  and  saw  in  this 
supernatural  interruption  a  hint  that  she  should  leave 
the  world  even  more  completely  than  she  could  have 
done  as  a  nun  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominick.  She  built 
herself,  therefore,  a  little  cell  in  her  father's  garden,  and 
here  led  a  life  of  ecstatic  asceticism,  during  which  she 
often  remained  for  days  and  weeks  without  food,  and 
became  strangely  intimate  with  birds  and  insects. 
Whenever  she  took  the  eucharist,  she  felt  marvelous 
happiness  and  fell  into  trances  ;  in  the  intervals,  how- 
ever, she  suffered  intensely  from  that  depression  and 
utter  despair  which  in  such  cases  are  apt  to  result  from 
powerful  reaction.  She  died  quite  young,  exhausted  by 
her  ascetic  life  and  continued  excitement,  and  has  ever 
since  been  revered  as  the  patron  saint  of  Peru. 


THE  END. 


PROF.  SCHELE  DE  VERE'S  WORKS. 


VyONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP. 

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T 


•HE  ROMANCE  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY. 
i2mo,  cloth  extra,  $i  50. 


CONTEXTS. 

Lo  !  the  Poor  Indian.  The  Hidden  River.  Our  First  Romance.  A  Few  Town 
Names.  Kaisers,  Kings,  and  Knights.  Lost  Towns.  Lost  Lands. 

"We  can  only  repeat  that  it  is  intensely  interesting,  and  full  of  instructive 
matter  that  every  American  should  make  himself  familiar  with." — Toledo  Commercial. 

"  In  the  selection  of  early  historical  curiosities  the  author  has  evinced  nice  tafte 
and  tact,  and  he  possesses  in  an  eminent  degree  the  rare  and  invaluable  art  of  in- 
the  dry  details  of  history  with  a  romantic  color  and  hue." — American 
Athenaeum. 

A/TODERN  MAGIC. 

•*•*•*•     121110,  cloth. 

CONTESTS. 

Witchcraft.    Black  and  White  Magic.    Dreams.    Visions.    Ghosts.    Divination. 
:<iu.    Magnetism.    Miraculous  Cases.    Mysticism. 


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IN    COURSE    OF    PUBLICATION. 


Putnam's  Elementary  and  AlYancei  Science  Series, 

Adapted  to  the  requirements  of  Students  in  Science  and  Art  Classes,  and 
Higher  and  Middle  Class  Schools. 

ELEMENTARY    SERIES. 
Printed  uniformly  in  ibmo ,  fully  Illustrated,  cloth  extra, price,  65  cents  each. 

1.  PRACTICAL    PLANE    AND    SOLID    GEOMETRY.     By    II. 

Angel,  Islington  Science  School,  London. 

2.  MACHINE     CONSTRUCTION     AND     DRAWING.      By    E. 

Tomkins,  Queen's  College,  Liverpool. 
3A  BUILDING     CONSTRUCTION— STONE,    BRICK    AND     SLATE 

WORK.     By  R.  S.  Burn,  C.E.,  Manchester. 
33  BUILDING  CONSTRUCTION— TIMBER  AND  IRON  WORK.     By 

R.  S.  Burn,  C.E.,  Manchester. 

4.  NAVAL   ARCHITECTURE— SHIPBUILDING  AND  LAYING  OFF. 

By  S.  J.  P.  Thearle,  F.R.S.N.A.,  London. 

5.  PURE    MATHEMATICS.     By   Lewis  Sergeant,   B.A.,   (Camb.,) 

London. 

6.  THEORETICAL  MECHANICS.     By  William  Rossiter,  F.R.A.S., 

F.C.S.,  London. 

7.  APPLIED     MECHANICS.       By    \Villiam    Rossiter,     F.R.A.S., 

London. 

8.  ACOUSTICS,  LIGHT   AND   HEAT.     By  William  Lees,  A.M., 

Lecturer  on  Physics,  Edinburgh. 

9.  MAGNETISM  AND  ELECTRICITY.     By  John  Angell,  Senior 

Science  Master,  Grammar  School,  Manchester. 

10.  INORGANIC  CHEMISTRY.     By  Dr.  W.  B.  Kemshead,  F.R.A.S., 

Duhvich  College,  London. 

11.  ORGANIC  CHEMISTRY.     By  W.  Marshall  Watts,  D.Sc.,  (Lond.,) 

Grammar  School,  Giggleswick. 

12.  GEOLOGY.     By.  W.  S.  Davis,  LL.D.,  Derby. 

13.  MINERALOGY.     By  J.  H.  Collins,  F.G.S.,  Royal  Cornwall  Poly- 

technic Society,  Falmouth. 

14.  ANIMAL    PHYSIOLOGY.     By    John    Angell,    Senior    Science 

Master,  Grammar  School,  Manchester. 

15.  ZOOLOGY.     By    M.    Harbison,    Head-Master     Model     Schools, 

Newtonards. 

16.  VEGETABLE   ANATOMY   AND   PHYSIOLOGY.     By  J.    H. 

Balfour,  M.D.,  Edinburgh  University. 

17.  SYSTEMATIC  AND  ECONOMIC  BOTANY.     By  J.  H.  Balfour, 

M.D.,  Edinburgh  University. 

19.  METALLURGY.     By  John  Mayer,  F.C.S.,  Glasgow. 

20.  NAVIGATION.     By  Henry  Evers,  LL.D.,  Plymouth. 

21.  NAUTICAL  ASTRONOMY.     By  Henry  Evers,  LL.D. 

22A  STEAM  AND  THE  STEAM  ENGINE— LAND  AND   MARINE. 

By  Henry  Evers,  LL.D.,  Plymouth. 
22B  STEAM    AND    STEAM    ENGINE— LOCOMOTIVE.     By    Henry 

Evers,  LL.D.,  Plymouth. 

23.  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY.     By  John  Macturk,  F.R.G.S. 

24.  PRACTICAL  CHEMISTRY.     By  John  Howard,  London. 

25.  ASTRONOMY.     By  J.  J.  Plummer,  Observatory,  Durham. 


